Residents of two populous suburbs of the Zimbabwe capital Harare voted for a second day on Sunday in key by-elections, amid opposition claims that the polls were not free and fair.
Voting was reportedly slow and uneventful in the morning, but later the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claimed scores of ruling party supporters closed down several polling stations ahead of time.
A tense atmosphere marked day one of voting in Highfield and Kuwadzana, which President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union -Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) has vowed to win back from the opposition. The MDC says the elections have been marred by widespread intimidation of voters, with one information officer claiming would-be voters were turned away by Zanu-PF supporters in Kuwadzana on Sunday afternoon.
But the representative for the official Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) Thomas Bvuma denied any reports of violence. ”There is no violence anywhere as we speak and voting is continuing,” said Bvuma.
”No polling station has been closed,” he said. Voting was scheduled to end at 7:00 pm (1700 GMT). State radio said the voting process had been ”generally peaceful”.
Earlier, Nelson Chamisa, the MDC candidate for Kuwadzana told a press conference: ”The circumstances and environment are not conducive for a free and fair election.”
The party alleged the voters’ rolls for the two suburbs have been inflated with non-residents and that ZANU-PF has been buying votes with hand-outs of the scarce national staple, maize-meal.
”We are making this complaint not because we are anticipating loss… we are making this on the basis of principle,” Chamisa said.
An MDC information official, who did not want to be named, said late on Sunday that three of the party’s vehicles were stoned over the weekend by Zanu-PF supporters.
Queues at voting stations were reported to be short on Sunday morning, when many Zimbabweans go to church services. Official reports estimate more than 27 000 people had voted in both suburbs by Sunday afternoon out of a total of 88 000
registered voters.
Hundreds of prospective voters were turned away for not having the correct papers or trying to vote in the wrong constituency, state radio reported. The high political stakes in the Harare polls are being played against reports of growing calls from Mugabe supporters for the detention of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
”Arrest Tsvangirai, say local leaders,” read the headline in the state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper.
The Sunday Mail report interviewed unnamed lawyers, church leaders and businessmen, as well as ordinary Zimbabweans, who told the paper Tsvangirai should be arrested for being ”used by external forces to fuel violence”.
Those remarks echoed ones made by Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi on Friday. He said that Tsvangirai, who is already on trial for high treason, should not be allowed to take advantage of being out of custody to ”orchestrate acts of violence”.
Tsvangirai renewed on Sunday his threat that MDC will embark on peaceful mass action if their demands for the government to address issues on human rights, democracy and governance are not met by Monday.
In a statement entitled ”countdown to the final reckoning” Tsvangirai said the government had ”totally refused even to consider the demands of the people.”
He said his party’s supporters had the right to protest peacefully and, although he did not provide specific dates or details, said the government could soon expect a ”final push that will restore our sovereignty, liberty and freedom.”
Tsvangirai predicted a ”long and hard struggle” that he said might call for ”the supreme sacrifice” to be made. The opposition has warned of a ”violent backlash” from its supporters if they perceive the results of the two Harare polls to have been rigged in favour of the ruling party.
Those results are due on Monday, coinciding with the deadline for the MDC ultimatum. – Sapa-AFP