Hundreds of guerrilla war veterans who support President Robert Mugabe marched through the capital on Friday, raising fears he might turn to violence to prolong his rule.

Police escorted about 400 veterans who fought in the bush war that helped end white minority rule in Rhodesia and often are used to intimidate opposition supporters. They also spearheaded the often violent takeover of white farms in recent years.

Mugabe’s embattled ZANU-PF party gathered on Friday, its first meeting since it lost control of parliament in weekend elections. The opposition claims to have won the presidency as well, but official returns in that race have not yet been released.

On Thursday, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party said that Mugabe has “unleashed a war” in his bid to stay in power after party offices were raided and foreign journalists detained.

Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said it was ready to go to court to force the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to announce the results.

“We want to see results by today. If that doesn’t happen then we will retrieve all our tools including court process to make sure we give Zimbabweans the results as soon as possible,” he said.

Mugabe was said to be pondering conflicting advice from his advisers on whether to quietly cede power or face a runoff, both humiliating prospects for the 84-year-old president.

Diplomats in Harare and at the United Nations said Mugabe was planning to declare a 90-day delay to a presidential runoff to give security forces time to clamp down. The law requires a runoff be held within 21 days of an election, but Mugabe could change that with a presidential decree, a Western diplomat in Harare said.

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