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Mugabe's future on the line as Zimbabwe votes
HARARE
Petroleumworld.com, Mar 31, 2008
Zimbabweans voted Saturday in an election which could see President Robert Mugabe turfed out of power after 28 years in office, with voters desperate for an end to the country's economic meltdown.
As his opponents accused Africa's oldest leader of trying to rig his way to another five-year term, Mugabe said he was confident of victory and he could not sleep at night if he attempted to fix the result.
" We don't rig elections. I cannot sleep with my conscience if I have rigged," the 84-year-old said as he cast his ballot in the capital Harare.
Large queues had gathered outside the polling booths by the time they opened at 7:00 a.m. (0500 GMT). The 5.9 million strong electorate has 12 hours in which to vote for their choice of president as well as elect members of the 210 seat parliament and local councils.
Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony uninterrupted since independence in 1980, is up against former finance minister Simba Makoni and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
While Makoni, formerly one of the leading lights in the ruling ZANU-PF party, is likely to peel votes away from Mugabe, Tsvangirai is seen by analysts to represent the major threat to the president.
As he cast his ballot in Harare, Tsvangirai said he expected to win the poll but made fresh allegations of widespread vote-rigging.
" Victory is assured in spite of the regime's attempt to subvert the will of the people," Tsvangirai told reporters.
Tsvangirai said his party had uncovered evidence of widespread vote-rigging, including the names of a million "ghost" voters registered to cast their ballots in a northern region of Zimbabwe.
" Even if the MDC wins, the election cannot be said to be free and fair," he added.
Makoni, who has expressed his own doubts about the fairness of the poll, was among the first to vote at the Mandara shopping centre in eastern Harare.
" I feel good, I voted for the best candidate, I voted for Simba Makoni," he told AFP.
Makoni struck a bullish note, saying his chances "are very good" and that his final tally should be "more than" his initial prediction of 72 percent.
No reliable opinion polls were conducted during the campaign, although state media has predicted Mugabe would triumph with 57 percent of the vote and avoid the need for a second round run-off within three weeks.
The election takes place as Zimbabwe is grappling with the impact of the world's highest rate of inflation -- officially put at 100,580.2 percent -- and an unemployment level which has breached the 80 percent mark.
Once seen as the region's breadbasket, the country is now suffering from previously unheard of shortages of even the most basic foodstuffs such as cooking oil and bread.
" We just want to live normally again, to be able to get into hospitals stocked with drugs, to be able to walk into shops and buy mealie-meal (corn flour)," said a mother-of-seven after voting at the same polling station as Mugabe. She did not want to give her name.
The president has blamed the country's economic woes on the European Union and United States, which imposed sanctions on his inner circle after he was accused of rigging his 2002 re-election. He has portrayed the election as a chance to stand up against the West and in particular Britain.
Security forces have been placed on full alert during the poll in a bid to avert the type of violence which followed the recent disputed election in Kenya.
While there were no reports of widespread unrest, police said that the home of one ruling party parliamentary candidate had been firebombed in the main southern city of Bulawayo.
While the turn-out appeared high in Harare, it was a different story in Bulawayo, where voters said their main priority was to try and track down drinking water.
" Right now my priority is to find water so I am just going around looking for water and when I get it I will certainly go and vote," said Dominic Bhebhe, a resident in the suburb of Nketa, as he carried two plastic buckets.
In all there are four presidential candidates, 774 parliamentary hopefuls, 197 senator aspirants and 3,431 candidates vying to run local government.
The first results are not expected until Sunday and the count is not expected to be completed for several days.
Story by Godfrey Marawanyika from AFP
AFP 291247 GMT 03 08
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