[JURIST] Zimbabwean police Friday raided the offices of independent election observers and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website], arresting hundreds in an alleged crackdown on anti-government subversives. Witnesses say that police were searching for vote counting materials that might show that MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile] won the contested March 29 presidential election [JURIST report]. The raids come just one day after US Envoy Jendayi Frazer announced that the US believes Tsvangirai won the election outright [AP report] and called for Mugabe to step down. Official results of the election have still not been published.

Last week, current Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and his Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) [party website] accused [JURIST report] Tsvangirai of treason, saying that Tsvangirai and Britain are conspiring to overthrow Mugabe. MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said Sunday that more than 400 supporters of the MDC have been detained [JURIST report] and more than 3,000 families displaced since the March 29 election. AP has more. From Zimbabwe, the Herald has local coverage.