Longtime president faces allegations of vote-rigging
Zimbabwe's election pits incumbent Robert Mugabe against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader who teamed up with the former's party in an uneasy coalition |
Zimbabweans voted Wednesday in elections that will determine the
future of longtime President Robert Mugabe, who has denied allegations
of vote-rigging and dismissed concerns about the credibility of the
polls.
Lines
of voters snaked around a school in Harare, where polling booths opened
just after the scheduled time of 7 a.m. local time Wednesday. Many were
dressed in heavy coats, scarves and woolen headgear to ward off the winter chill. Some had flasks of hot drinks.
"It is moving slowly, but I am here for as long as it takes. We have
got to get this done," said voter Isaac Rufaro, who joined the line
before dawn.
The contest pits Mugabe against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the
former opposition leader who teamed up with the president's party in an
uneasy coalition. The power-sharing deal was forged by regional leaders
after Zimbabwe's last disputed and violent election in 2008.
After 33 years of authoritarian power, Mugabe, 89, has promised to
hand over to Tsvangirai, 61, if he wins. However, Tsvangirai's party has
alleged that Mugabe supporters have engaged in vote-rigging in a
desperate attempt to stay in power.
The
official state election body has admitted that administrative,
logistical and funding problems have hindered voting arrangements, but
said they had been resolved and voting was ready to go ahead at more
than 9,000 polling stations across the country.
Vote rigging and violence
There are 6.4 million voters in the nation, which is slightly larger
than Germany or the U.S. state of Montana. Zimbabwe has 12.9 million
people.
Voting officials at one suburban Harare shopping centre said their
line of at least 1,000 people was expected to move more quickly as staff
became more proficient in finding names on pages and pages of voters'
lists, and verifying identity documents.
Previous elections in 2002 and 2008 were marred by allegations of
vote rigging and political violence. Rights groups say there has been
little overt violence this time around but noted deep concerns remain
over shambolic voters' lists, the role of Mugabe's loyalist police and
military in the voting process and bias in the dominant state media and
the sole national broadcaster controlled by Mugabe loyalists.
The United States on Tuesday voiced its worries over "the lack of
transparency in electoral preparations, by the continued partisan
behaviour of state security institutions and by the technical and
logistical issues hampering the administration of a credible and
transparent election," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
The International Crisis Group, a research organization, said it
feared a return to "a protracted political crisis, and possibly
extensive violence" if the Zimbabwe poll is inconclusive and disputed,
and especially if election observers of the regional Southern African
Development Community, or SADC, and the continent-wide African Union
fail to identify flaws in the hastily arranged elections.
Mugabe has refused to allow Western observer missions, including one
from the Jimmy Carter Center, to monitor voting but main Western
embassies in Zimbabwe have been permitted to deploy a limited number of
Harare-based diplomats to key voting districts.
Zimbabwe's shaky coalition government is effectively dissolved Wednesday.
Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have predicted outright victory for their
parties that would avoid the formation of another coalition.
Voting is scheduled to close at 7 p.m. local time but may be extended
to a second day Thursday, according to election officials. The
electoral commission has promised to release final tallies by Aug. 5.
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