Zimbabwe's government has vowed to crack down on opposition dissent after three people were killed when protests against alleged electoral fraud were met by live ammunition, denting hopes of a new era for the country.

Soldiers fired on demonstrators during opposition MDC party protests in Harare yesterday, with one man shot dead in the stomach. Monday's polls — the first since autocratic president Robert Mugabe was forced out by a brief military takeover in November — had been meant to turn the page on years of violence-marred elections and brutal repression of dissent.