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Counting
Under Way In Zimbabwe Election
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| Ballot
boxes are removed for counting on Tuesday |
HARARE,
March 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Counting began early
Tuesday in Zimbabwe's
crucial presidential elections, amid accusations by the opposition
of widespread vote fraud.
"Counting
began at 7:00 am (0500 GMT)," presidential spokesman George
Charamba told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Results are to be
announced as they come in, and returns from the first constituencies
could be available late Tuesday, he said.
Police
used force to disperse thousands of people who were still queuing in
the capital, Harare, when voting ended on Monday, BBC’s online
service reported.
The
secretary-general of Zimbabwe's governing Zanu-PF party, Emmerson
Mnangagwa, said the party would abide by the will of the people if
the results showed President Robert Mugabe has lost to his main
challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai.
But
a senior official from Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
said the election had not been free and fair, and said the party
would challenge the result in court if Tsvangirai lost, BBC said.
Tsvangirai poses the most potent threat ever to Mugabe's 22 years in
power.
The
MDC warned of "an expression of anger" in the capital
Harare after so many were turned away from polling stations.
The
voting ended in Zimbabwe
Monday as the High Court threw out a new opposition bid for more
time following an unscheduled third day of polling in greater
Harare.
The
court had ordered the extra day after a massive turnout and a
sharply reduced number of polling stations in urban centers
prevented many people from casting ballots on the scheduled election
days of Saturday and Sunday.
But
the same court, though under a different judge, ruled out a further
extension demanded by the party of opposition candidate Tsvangirai
after polls reopened four to five hours late in the capital Monday.
Weary
Harare voters Monday spent a third day standing in lines outside
polling stations in the city's densely populated township areas,
although the queues were shorter as many people had to return to
work after the weekend.
Longtime
ruler Mugabe, 78, is struggling for his political survival against
the 50-year-old Tsvangirai, who is tipped to win a free and fair
election.
The
voting was preceded by an acrimonious campaign marred by attacks and
intimidation targeting supporters of Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and prompting sanctions by the European
Union and the United States.
Earlier
Monday evening, the chairman of the elections directorate
Mariyawanda Nzuwah told state television that the voting was over
despite the MDC's appeal for a further extension.
The
order for a third day of voting was a significant blow for Mugabe,
whose party has lost almost all its support in the cities.
Zimbabwe’s
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo charged at a press conference
earlier, that the High Court had "usurped the powers of the
registrar general." He said: "It is in the registrar
general's power to decide when to do things that affect the
management of elections."
After
the court ruled out further polling, MDC spokesman Nomore Sibanda
said the party wanted to see how many people in Harare had managed
to cast ballots on Monday before deciding whether to appeal to the
Supreme Court.
Polling
began several hours late Monday as electoral officials received
conflicting instructions from organizers, the ruling Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the justice
ministry.
The
late start prompted Tsvangirai to call a press conference at which
he said: "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."
Tsvangirai
accused ZANU-PF of trying to steal the election, saying he was
"disappointed by the machinations of this government to try to
have a predetermined outcome."
Meanwhile,
four U.S. diplomats including two accredited election observers were
detained for five hours in the northern town of Chinhoyi, prompting
a furious reaction from Washington.
"This
is harassment and a contravention of international diplomatic norms
by the government of Zimbabwe
and we view it as unacceptable," State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said, adding that the situation was "not
good."
In
addition, MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube was arrested Monday
in Plumtree, a town on the southern border with Botswana, and
detained throughout the day, party officials said. Ncube, along with
Tsvangirai and four other MDC officials, are accused of plotting to
kill Mugabe.
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