Zimbabwe faces most crucial elections

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President Robert Mugabe's supporters sing in an event celebrated in Qwanzura Stadium in Harare. Photo: EFE

Zimbabweans began voting on Saturday in the most crucial election since independence from Britain in 1980, with veteran President Robert Mugabe facing the biggest challenge of his 28-year-rule.

Some voters slept at the polling stations while others began queuing before dawn. Voting began just after 7.00 a.m. (0500 GMT) and was scheduled to end 12 hours later.

"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", red-eyed Leo Kariwo said as he waited to vote in Harare's low income Mufakose township.

With the once-prosperous nation's economy in ruins, former guerrilla lader Mugabe must defeat a formidable two-pronged attack from veteran opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and ruling party defector Simba Makoni.

His two rivals believe they can finally end Mugabe's iron rule because of an economic meltdown that has reduced most of the population to misery, including those in his traditional rural strongholds.

Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, now suffers the world's worst inflation at over 100,000 percent, a rampant HIV/AIDS epidemic that has contributed to a radical reduction in life expectancy, a virtually worthless currency and chronic shortages of food and fuel.

Few analysts are prepared to count Mugabe out. They say he has maintained a tight grip on power through a combination of ruthless security crackdowns, intimidation of ruling party rivals and an elaborate patronage system. A split opposition may also favor Mugabe.

Security forces

But Zimbabwe's powerful security forces have thrown their backing behind Mugabe, stoking accusations that he will use his incumbent power to rig victory.

The state-owned Herald newspaper reported on Friday that an opinion poll showed Mugabe would win up to 57 percent of the vote, which analysts saw as a way of preparing the population for his victory. The poll was conducted by a university lecturer seen as sympathetic to the government.

Tsvangirai and Makoni have accused Mugabe of planning to declare victory with almost 60 percent of the vote after a fraudulent count.

"At this polling station the turnout looks very high. The proceedings are very orderly. It looks like we will have a very good election day and the weather is very favourable", Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Chairman George Chiweshe told reporters at the David Livingstone primary school, close to Mugabe's official residence.

Mugabe blames the economic collapse on sanctions by former colonial power Britain and other Western nations. "This is a vote against the British. The fight is not against the MDC the MDC is just a puppet, a mouthpiece of the British", he said in one of his last rallies on Friday.

If no candidate wins more than 51 percent of the vote on Saturday, the election will go into a second round, when the two opposition parties would likely unite. Critics say Mugabe will do his utmost, including rigging, to avoid this happening.