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Mugabe under fire as Zimbabwe votes
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has led his ruling
party into elections against a weakened opposition but in the face of relentless
international criticism that he has hijacked democracy to stay in power.
Hundreds of voters braved early morning drizzle to queue hours before voting
started at some stations and polls opened in the capital Harare on time at 7
a.m. (6 a.m. British time) on Thursday.
"We have come to make a statement," said one young man, grinning as he headed
towards a polling station in the city.
There was no visible police presence in the centre of Harare but witnesses
said there were some patrols in outlying townships where there have been
anti-government protests in the past.
Veteran Mugabe, 81, told loyalists of his ZANU-PF party on Wednesday that the
poll would be fair and urged voters to reject the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), which he calls a puppet of Prime Minister Tony Blair.
ZANU-PF is widely tipped to win the parliamentary poll although the MDC,
despite crying foul even before polls open at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT), has put on a
brave face.
"The MDC is confident of victory," MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube said
in a statement on Wednesday.
"The people are behind us. If the MDC does win the election it will be
because the will of the people will have prevailed over attempts by Mugabe and
ZANU-PF to rig the ballot."
Nevertheless, the MDC, cowed by government pressure, appears weaker than in
two previous elections over the last five years when it came close to shock
victories.
The MDC and Western observers said both those votes were rigged and
Thursday's election -- whose results are expected within 48 hours of polls
closing -- has already been branded unfair by both the United States and the
European Union.
The EU blasted the polls as "phoney" and warned it would take unspecified
steps against Zimbabwe after the election.
Mugabe says Washington and European governments led by former colonial power
Britain want to topple him over his seizure of white-owned land for landless
black Zimbabweans.
ECONOMIC COLLAPSE
Critics blame the land seizures, which began in 2000, for ruining the
commercial farming industry, leaving the once prosperous country short of food
and triggering a wider economic collapse that has seen inflation and
unemployment skyrocket.
Mugabe, who has led the former Rhodesia since independence in 1980, denies
his mismanagement is to blame and accuses Western and domestic opponents of
conspiring to sabotage the economy.
On Thursday he defended the land redistribution programme, telling supporters
at his closing rally: "We are not anti-white, but we are anti-racism."
A clear victory would keep ZANU-PF firmly in control as its ageing leader
approaches planned retirement in 2008.
The party hopes to win back urban voters who rejected it in parliamentary and
presidential votes in 2000 and 2002, while the opposition MDC, which emerged
from urban trade unions, has targeted several rural districts to broaden its
voter base.
Mugabe has come under regional pressure to abide by new election standards
adopted last year by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and
although the MDC says Zimbabwe falls far short of full compliance, the
opposition party says violence this time is much reduced compared to 2000 and
2002.
Results are expected within 48 hours of polls closing.
The Mulindwas Communication Group
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