Polls open as Zimbabweans vote in tightly contested election
Polling stations opened as early as 7 o’clock this morning to move the wheels of a ballot vehicle that may take Zimbabwe into another coalition government or an outright victory for 89 year old President Robert Mugabe or his sworn rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
The harmonised elections coming at the close of Mugabe’s 33 year long rule, is hoped to be the last for the ZANU-PF leader.
Mugabe told the press on the eve of the election that he would step down if he lost, but his opponents think Mugabe is only paying lip service.
“This is a competition with only two outcomes you don’t expect to get both,” he said.
But his main opponent Tsvangirai says he doesn’t think “Mugabe is a man who respects rule of law.”
Both front runner hope there would be an outright winner to avoid a run off and guard the peace that prevailed throughout the campaign period where no institutionalised violence was reported and opposed to 2008 polls.
It is now increasingly clear that opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of Morgan Tsvangirai will not accept results if they are declared lost in today’s tightly contested polls and neither will ZANU-PF of President Robert Mugabe.
Speaking to the press Tuesday at MDC-T headquarters, party spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora called the whole electoral process so far “fraudulent and unacceptable.”
“We will only accept results of a free, fair and credible process and not a sham calculated at rigging for ZANU-PF,” he said.
On the other hand, Minister of Parastatals and State Enterprises Golden Moyo says ZANU will not accept defeat.
At the MDC media briefing, Mwonzora narrated a litany of what he called moves by the state machinery to rig the elections among them that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has lost control of the process.
“We have tried to secure an analysable voters’ roll but ZEC keeps on saying they will organise it for us which clearly means they are not in control. We are certain that the voters roll is in the hands of state security agents,” he alleged.
