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Mugabe's party favored as Zimbabweans go to polls
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe leads his ruling party into parliamentary elections on Thursday, facing a weakened opposition but also relentless international criticism that he has hijacked democracy.
The veteran leader, 81, told loyalists of his ZANU-PF party on Wednesday that the poll would be fair and urged voters to reject the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which he calls a puppet of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
ZANU-PF is widely tipped to win the parliamentary poll although the MDC, despite crying foul even before polls open at 7 a.m. (midnight EST), has put a brave face on campaigning.
"The people are behind us. If the MDC does win the election it will be because the will of the people will have prevailed over attempts by Mugabe and ZANU-PF to rig the ballot."
Nevertheless, the MDC appears cowed by government pressure and weaker than in two previous elections over the last five years when it came close to shock victories.
The MDC and Western observers said both those votes were rigged. Thursday's election has already been branded unfair by both the United States and the European Union, which blasted the polls as "phoney" and warned it would take unspecified steps against Zimbabwe after the election.
Mugabe says Washington and European governments led by former colonial power Britain want to topple him over his seizure of white-owned land for landless black Zimbabweans.
Critics blame the land seizures, which began in 2000, for ruining the commercial farming industry, leaving the once prosperous country short of food and triggering a wider economic crisis that has seen inflation and unemployment skyrocket.
Washington said on Wednesday Mugabe was exploiting food shortages for electoral advantage.
"Our understanding is that ruling party candidates have given out government-owned food to draw voters to rallies. And that is, frankly, a despicable practice," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.
He repeated U.S. criticisms that Mugabe's government has threatened and intimidated the opposition, that independent election observers have not been invited and that there has been a crackdown on independent media.
"We call on the government of Zimbabwe tomorrow to take every step necessary to ensure that elections are peaceful, transparent and free of intimidation and fraud," Ereli added.
Mugabe, who has led the former Rhodesia since independence in 1980, denies his mismanagement is to blame for the state of the economy and accuses Western and domestic opponents of conspiring to sabotage it.
On Thursday, he defended the land redistribution program, telling supporters at his closing rally: "We are not anti-white, but we are anti-racism."
A clear victory would keep ZANU-PF firmly in control as its aging leader approaches planned retirement in 2008.
The party hopes to win back urban voters who rejected it in parliamentary and presidential votes in 2000 and 2002, while the opposition MDC, which emerged from urban trade unions, has targeted several rural districts to broaden its voter base.
Mugabe has come under regional pressure to abide by new election standards adopted last year by the Southern African Development Community, and although the MDC says Zimbabwe falls far short of full compliance, the opposition party says violence this time is much reduced compared to 2000 and 2002. Results are expected within 48 hours of polls closing. |
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