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Zimbabwe's Landmark Presidential Vote Set To Go Into Overtime
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| Voters wait in line outside a polling station in Harare |
HARARE,
March 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Zimbabwe's landmark
presidential election was set to go into overtime Monday to cope
with a massive turnout in the capital Harare, but the opposition
accused the government of preventing the vote from proceeding.
The
government agreed to the one-day extension, ordered by a High Court
on Sunday after an urgent application by the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), for the capital Harare and the satellite
city of Chitungwiza, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
However,
as polls were set to reopen Monday the MDC charged that the Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) government was not
allowing the vote to go forward.
"Nobody
is being allowed to vote," an MDC official said, requesting
anonymity. "The presiding officers said they are waiting for an
order from the registrar general."
The
High Court had ordered an extension across Zimbabwe, but Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa said a third day of polling nationwide
would not be feasible. The MDC had appealed for the extension after
a weekend of chaotic voting in Harare that saw queues thousands of
people long because of the heavy turnout and a cutback in the number
of polling stations.
A
polling official in the working-class suburb of Mbare said he was
receiving conflicting instructions early Monday.
"This
morning I've been told that I would be put behind bars if I open the
polling station," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The instructions are not to open the polling station."
The
polling official said he was receiving conflicting instructions from
election organizers, ZANU-PF officials and the justice ministry. The
facility opened for five minutes before closing again, to howls of
protest from about 100 waiting voters.
"It
would be fair to open today to let these people vote," he said,
noting that only 1,700 of the 3,000 people registered to vote at his
polling station had cast their ballots at the weekend.
However,
Election Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede said that everyone who
wanted to vote would have the chance to do so, BBC’s online
service reported. He said that by 1400 (1200GMT) on Sunday 2,475,147
people had been to the polls, out of 5.6 million registered voters.
"The whole country has voted, with the exception of about 10
polling stations in Harare," said Mudede.
More
than 5,000 people were reported to be waiting at one voting station
in the Kuwadzana district of the capital late on Sunday. "It is
not fair. Voting is not a crime. We are not happy at all," said
Peter Chiriseri, as he waited to vote.
Earlier,
the MDC lodged the court application after claiming that Mugabe had
deliberately reduced the number of polling stations in Harare to
delay balloting in the capital, the MDC's main stronghold.
MDC
lawyer Eric Matinenga said Judge Ben Hlatshwayo ordered the
extension after assessing voting queues by helicopter across Harare
and the satellite city of Chitungwiza late Sunday afternoon, when
polling in the two-day vote was due to end. Despite the order,
voters queued late into the night after Chinamasa said all those in
line by the time official polling ended would be allowed to vote.
However,
the MDC said more than a dozen polling stations in populous suburbs
were closed despite Chinamasa's announcement. "They do not want
citizens to vote, particularly those citizens who are likely to vote
against them," said MDC spokesman Learnmore Jongwe.
The
snarled voting process in Harare resulted from the government's
decision to relocate an estimated 30 percent of polling stations in
cities to rural areas, and to hold mayoral and city council
elections at the same time as the presidential.
The
MDC called the logjam a deliberate ploy to prevent their supporters
from voting, while making it easier for Mugabe's supporters to cast
ballots in rural areas.
The
European Union and U.S. have warned Mugabe's government to allow
free and fair elections or face international sanctions. Opinion
polls and rights groups say Tsvangirai could win the election if it
is free and fair.
Meanwhile,
the opposition leader, Tsvangirai, warned Monday that Zimbabwe's
landmark presidential election would be "stillborn" if
thousands of voters still waiting to cast their ballots were not
allowed to vote.
"We
are now in the third day of voting when there is no voting taking
place," he told a news conference. "I can only say that it
means one thing. If these thousands of people are not allowed to
vote, this is a stillborn election. MDC will not be part of an
illegitimate process to disenfranchise the people," he said.
Tsvangirai
is facing Mugabe in the crucial election, which started on Saturday
morning, was originally due to end on Sunday evening, and poses the
severest challenge ever to Mugabe's 22-year rule.
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