Mugabe denies vote 'theft' as polls close

ZIMBABWEANS voted yesterday in the most crucial election since independence in 1980, many of them desperate to end the misery of economic collapse under veteran President Robert Mugabe.

But the opposition said Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party planned to steal victory through multiple balloting by its supporters. It said voting ink could be removed from ballots with detergent.

Combined with a bloated voter role and the printing of three million extra ballot papers this "ensures that there will be multiple voting" said Tendai Biti, a senior official in the MDC party of main challenger Morgan Tsvangirai. "There is absolutely no doubt we have won this election."

Voting ended on schedule, after 12 hours, at 7pm local time. Turnout in most places, including the capital Harare, was heavy in the early morning but subsided later in the day, witnesses said. Official turnout figures were not available. Zimbabwe, its once prosperous economy in ruins, is suffering the world's highest inflation rate at more than 100,000%, chronic shortages of food and fuel and a rampant Hiv/Aids epidemic that has contributed to a steep decline in life expectancy.

Such is the plight of Zimbabweans many were last week still trying to flee the country. Hundreds of children were illegally crossing the Zimbabwe border to find work in neighbouring countries, such as South Africa and Botswana.

Mugabe, who blames the economic collapse on Western sanctions, faces the biggest challenge of his 28-year rule from veteran rival Tsvangirai and ruling Zanu-PF party defector Simba Makoni.

Many voters said they wanted a new government. "I am voting for change," said Richard Mutedzi, 25, a mechanic who voted in Chitungwiza, 20 miles south of Harare. "I am praying for a free and fair election. It is the only way this country can move forward."

Despite the odds stacked against Mugabe, 84, many analysts believe he will be declared the victor.

Mugabe oozed confidence when he voted in Harare yesterday. "We will succeed. We will conquer," he said, denying that he planned to steal the vote. "Why should I cheat? The people are there supporting us. The moment the people stop supporting you, then that's the moment you should quit politics."

The opposition fears many supporters did not have time to vote, saying polling stations have been distributed in favour of Mugabe's rural strongholds.

Biti, secretary-general of Tsvangirai's MDC faction, said voting was slow and some election agents were prevented from entering polling stations. He said hundreds of voters were also turned away as unregistered. Despite the fraud allegations, Tsvangirai said he would win. "We are absolutely confident that the outcome will be in the favour of the people," he said as he voted in Harare.

Some people slept at polling stations and queues formed before they opened. Results are not expected for several days.

Mother-of-three Gertrude Muzanenhamo, 36, voted early in the township of Warren Park, saying: "People are dying in hospitals and funeral expenses are very high. How do you expect us to survive? Shop shelves are empty."

Sagodolu Sikhosana, a rural villager in the opposition stronghold of Matabeleland, said after voting: "Things have been too hard for too long. I think now there needs to be a change and they need to take us more seriously."

Analysts say Mugabe has maintained a tight grip on power through a combination of ruthless security crackdowns, intimidation of ruling party rivals and an elaborate patronage system.

Voting was largely peaceful but police said a bomb exploded in the house of a ruling party candidate in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo, an opposition stronghold. No one was hurt.

"I can't say Zimbabweans are cowards or that they are cautious. They are peace-loving people but if Mugabe steals the election there will surely be trouble in this country," Leo Kariwo said as he waited to vote in a Harare township.

Mugabe's rivals believe they can finally end his iron rule because of the economic meltdown that has reduced even his traditional and favoured rural strongholds to misery. But the security forces have thrown their backing behind Mugabe, stoking accusations that he will use his incumbent power to rig victory.

Voters yesterday said police and army units backed by armoured vehicles and water cannons had patrolled overnight. "That is intimidation but we will not be cowed," said Samuel Furutsa in the Harare township of Mufakose.

Some security chiefs say they will not accept a Tsvangirai victory but he said they must be bound by the constitution. "I am not seeking the security chiefs mandate but the people's mandate," Tsvangirai said.

If no candidate wins more than 51% of the vote, the election will go into a second round, when the two opposition parties would likely unite.

Like many Zimbabweans, villager Betty Sithuthu's main hope is that the elections will help put more food on her table. "We just hope that this voting of ours will change the way that we are living here," said 35-year-old Sithuthu, after casting her vote at Gadade village in Umguza in the southern Matabeleland province.

Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party wrestled the Umguza seat from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change in the last parliamentary elections in 2005.

The opposition says that vote was rigged and believes the ruling party will cheat again this time too. Zanu-PF says the villagers changed their minds because they had been given land under a redistribution programme and were disillusioned with the MDC for failing to improve their lives when it held the seat before.

This time around, villagers reliant on subsistence farming say the government has not offered enough aid after drought ravaged their crops, and everyone talks of change.

Sithuthu's neighbour, Sagodolu Sikhosana, said: "Things have been too hard for too long. I think now there needs to be a change and the government need to take us more seriously."