The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU) party said a bomb scare at its headquarters on Tuesday morning is linked to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The party spokesperson, Nathan Shamuyarira, said that the headquarters had to be evacuated after at an anonymous caller threatened to bomb the building.

Police spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed receiving the report of the bomb scare and said they had in the meantime deployed officers at the building.

"We suspect that the bomb scare at our office was part of the continuing effort by the MDC to discredit the election and Zimbabwe," Shamuyarira said.

ZANU-PF won 78 seats of the 120 seats in last Thursday's parliament while the MDC trailed with 41 seats, down from the 57 it garnered in the 2000 elections. The MDC has called the election a "sham," and demanded a re-run.

Any talk of rerunning the election or reversing people's mandate was a pipe dream, Shamuyarira said.

However, he said President Robert Mugabe had opened the door wide for cooperation with the main opposition party in and outside Parliament.

He said ZANU-PF wanted the country to remain calm and peaceful as demonstrated throughout the election period.

"MDC is therefore strongly advised to take the hand of cooperation extended by the president at a press conference on Sunday. The president called for peace and for MDC to cooperate with ZANU-PF in and outside Parliament in the interest of the nation," he said.

Shamuyarira said the MDC should abandon the "useless" mass action of the past and any plans they might be making of violent confrontation with government or anyone else.

"They must drop those ideas right away and completely," he said, adding that the only course they should follow was to cooperate with ruling party.