Police say arrest 7 for undercounting Mugabe vote

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean police said on Monday they had arrested seven election officials for undercounting votes cast for President Robert Mugabe in the March 29 presidential poll.

"There are seven people who have been arrested in connection with irregularities in the presidential poll," police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said.

"We're still investigating, but we have established that there was deflation of figures in respect of one candidate ... the ZANU-PF presidential candidate (Mugabe)," Bvudzijena said.

He added that the arrested officials, who were working for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission in four provinces, would be charged with fraud.

The arrests came after the ZANU-PF party called for a recount of the election results, which have not been released.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he defeated Mugabe in the presidential poll, but independent observers say the challenger did not get enough votes to avoid a run-off with the veteran 84-year-old Zimbabwean ruler.

(Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa and Nelson Banya; Editing by Paul Simao and Caroline Drees)