10 March 2002
Growing pressure on government to extend voting beyond Sunday
There is growing domestic and international pressure on the authorities
in Zimbabwe to extend voting in the presidential election beyond Sunday night,
the scheduled end of the two-day poll. Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans, who
queued for hours at polling stations in and outside the capital Harare on
Saturday, were unable to cast their vote by the 7pm closing time on day one.
Electoral officials were obliged to order voting places to remain open to ease
the pressure of numbers. By late Saturday, reports indicated that polling
centres worst affected by the delays were still open for business. Most of
these were in areas loyal to the main opposition presidential challenger,
Morgan Tsvangirai, of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The call for
the vote to be extended came first from Tsvangirai himself. It was swiftly
echoed in a statement by the United States Embassy in Harare, on Saturday. The
United States urged the government of President Robert Mugabe to act urgently
and to "immediately take the necessary remedial measures." "If the Zimbabwean
government authorities do not take immediate steps to rectify these problems,
they are likely to result in a massive disenfranchisement of urban voters," the
embassy statement said.
Visiting polling stations around Harare, Tsvangirai concluded that the
government, and Mugabes Zanu PF party, were deliberately using delaying
tactics to limit the opposition vote. "Zanu PF is now engaged in a last-ditch
effort to stop people from voting it out of power, by ensuring that the voting
process in MDC strongholds is slowed down," he told reporters. He cited the
government's decision to reduce the number of polling centres in the city and
blamed this for the congestion at so many election centres. Tsvangirai said
these efforts would be resisted and called on his supporters to vote massively
and to remain patient. "We are trying to see if we can get an extension to the
voting days. There is no way we can finish this within two days," he told
thousands of MDC loyalists waiting to vote at one polling station in Harare.
Justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, later told both the BBC and Reuters that
the government might consider granting an extension. "Everyone who wants to
vote will be allowed to vote. If it becomes necessary, we will consider
extending the voting period," he told the news agency and added, in an
interview with the BBC, that this extension could last two days or more.
Zimbabwean voters began forming long, snaking queues early on Saturday
morning and put up with chilly temperatures, grey skies and slight drizzle in
some areas to be first in the line. But by mid-afternoon tens of thousands were
still waiting to vote. There was at least one violent incident in Harare, when
frustrated voters clashed with police who used tear gas, rubber bullets and
whips to keep the angry group in line and stop them from rushing a voting area.
Independent observers say an extension of the vote could reduce tension, which
has built up as voting proceeded at snails pace. High voter turnout in
urban areas would favour Tsvangirai and the opposition MDC,who draw most of
their support from Harare and other urban centres. Mugabes followers are
mainly rural dwellers. All 19 of the constituencies in the capital voted MDC in
the 2000 parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe. The registered electorate in
Harare for the presidential poll accounts for 15 percent of the national vote.
Tsvangirai has accused Mugabe and his party of trying to steal the election by
rigging the vote. But the Zimbabwean leader, who has dismissed these
allegations, was confident of victory when he cast his ballot, amid tight
security, at a school in the Highlands suburb of Harare on Saturday. "I will
accept the result, more than accept it, because I will have won," Mugabe told
reporters. Political analysts say this close-run contest, which the opposition
hopes will end Mugabes 22 year monopoly on power in Zimbabwe, remains
hard to predict. (ZWNews / allAfrica.com)
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