Zimbabwean presidential vote begins

 


Author:     ANGUS SHAW

  HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabweans waited in long lines outside 
polling stations Saturday, some knitting and playing with their 
children, while waiting for the chance to vote in elections that 
present the strongest challenge yet to President Robert Mugabe.

  Following a campaign wracked by intense violence and 
intimidation blamed on the ruling party, opposition leader 
Morgan Tsvangirai said he was pleased to see so many people 
voting, believing a strong turnout favored him over the man who 
has ruled this country since independence in 1980.

  But with voting going very slowly at some stations, Tsvangirai 
accused authorities of holding things up to hurt his chances in 
the two days of voting.

  "The intention, of course, is that you frustrate as many voters 
as you can. Mugabe is trying to move the goal posts to 
disenfranchise people, these people he thinks will vote against 
him," Tsvangirai said, urging voters in line to be patient.

  At one polling station on the outskirts of the capital, Harare, 
between 800 and 1,000 people were standing in line, but only 
about 100 people had voted in 21/2 hours. The number of polling 
stations in urban areas, considered opposition strongholds, were 
cut by half by the government. People were also uncertain about 
where to vote.

  In what appeared to be a show of force, witnesses in Harare 
reported unusually large number of soldiers and military 
vehicles around the capital. Government officials declined to 
comment on the deployment.

  Tsvangirai (pronounced CHAN-ger-ai), a union leader, is 
promising reforms in this southern African nation, which is 
mired in its worst economic crisis since independence. Inflation 
is over 110 percent, unemployment at 60 percent, and hundreds of 
thousands of people are going hungry.

  Mugabe, whose rule had never faced significant dissent until 
recent years with the economic troubles, has painted Tsvangirai 
and his Movement for Democratic Change as servants to white 
interests and Western powers who want to see the country fail.

  After casting his ballot, Mugabe lashed out at his critics. 
"They are supporters of the opposition," he said. "It is not 
only prejudice, it is bias against the (ruling party), bias 
against President Mugabe, and bias in favor of the opposition."

  Mugabe's name did not appear on the list at the polling station 
in the Harare township where he had planned to vote. His aides 
were informed of the gaffe, and he was whisked to another 
station, where his name was listed.

  Human rights groups and many political analysts say that the 
campaign was too tainted for elections to be free and fair.

  Police have canceled scores of opposition rallies and Mugabe has 
used his presidential powers to restore controversial election 
laws struck down by the Supreme Court that appear to make it 
easier to rig the vote. The opposition says scores of its 
polling agents have been detained or harassed

  The government refused to accredit most independent Zimbabwean 
voting monitors, but many of them showed up outside of polling 
stations anyway. In the rural town of Chininga, 12 farmers were 
arrested after helping election monitors reach polling stations, 
the Commercial Farmers Union said Saturday.

  The few pre-election polls reveal voters' fears - with one 
reporting that 70 percent of people questioned refused to say 
who they would vote for.

  "That's my secret, I can't tell you," Ronnie Dube, a 48 year-old 
carpenter, said when asked how he would vote. "I want to vote 
for a good future."

  Lines snaked around polling stations in Harare, one of them more 
than a mile long. The lines were far longer than during 
parliamentary elections in June 2000, which saw a strong 
challenge to Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic 
Front party, though it narrowly won.

  Mugabe, 78, has promised public works initiatives if he is 
re-elected and has pledged to continue his controversial program 
of seizing white-owned farms and giving them to landless blacks. 
Whites make up less than one percent of the country's population 
but own about a third of the nation's commercial farmland.

  Tsvangirai, 49, is promising to revive the economy, end 
corruption and promote a more orderly land reform system. He 
urged supporters Saturday to vote despite government 
intimidation.

  "I know you are tired; I know you are scared and I know you are 
hungry. But have courage, people of Zimbabwe, the darkest hour 
is always before the dawn," Tsvangirai said in a statement.

  Some 150 people have died in politically motivated violence over 
the last two years, many of them black opposition activists 
believed to have been killed by ruling party militants.

  Two weeks ago, Tsvangirai was charged with treason in connection 
with an alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe.

  The opposition had asked the Supreme Court to overturn Mugabe's 
decree restoring the controversial election laws, as well as to 
resolve confusion over voter registration and the location of 
polling stations and allow the polls to remain open if long 
lines made it impossible for some to vote. The court decided 
Friday night to defer a decision until after the election.

  Voting went smoothly in the village of Nkayi, one of the 
communities hardest hit by pre-election violence, about 90 miles 
north of Bulawayo. But Friday night an opposition polling agent 
said she was harassed by ruling party militants, who also sat in 
front of the polling station chanting slogans Saturday morning, 
opposition officials said.