Fear and derision in Zimbabwe one-man presidential vote
2008-10-17 17:58:24

وكالة الأنباء السعودية - واس

Harare/Johannesburg, June 27 , SPA -- Zimbabwe's controversial single-
contestant presidential election run-off, in which Robert Mugabe is
seeking to cement his 28-year grip on power, took place Friday in a
climate of fear and uncertainty about the consequences of his re-
election, according to dpa.
Polls closed countrywide shortly after 7 p.m. (1800 GMT), a
spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said.
A smiling Mugabe, 84, clad in a dark brown suit earlier cast his
vote in the ballot that have been branded a sham by the opposition and
the international community following the withdrawal from the election
of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai pulled out of the race last week over a spate of state-
sponsored militia attacks on his supporters that has claimed around 90
lives since the first round of voting for president on March 29.
Tsvangirai took more votes than Mugabe in that ballot but not enough
for an outright victory.
On Friday, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, whose
name still appears on the run-off ballot slip, urged his supporters to
abstain from the vote if possible, but not to endanger their lives,
and urged the world not to recognize the outcome.

"Anyone who recognizes this election is denying the will of
Zimbabweans and standing in the way of a transition that will deliver
stability and prosperity not just to the country but the region," he
told a press conference in Harare.
The foreign ministers of the Group of Eight (G8) meeting in Kyoto
Friday said the election was illegitimate did not represent the will
of Zimbabweans.

"This kind of sham election cannot possible produce a legal outcome
- that is the position of the United States," US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said at the end of their two-day meeting.
The United States would consult with other members of the UN
Security Council about the next steps to be taken, Rice added, hinting
at the possibility of sanctions.
The European Union (EU) also termed the "so-called election" a
sham, while Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Rome would
be calling for EU ambassadors to Harare to be withdrawn.
In Harare, a 41-year-old housewife with a baby on her back voting
in Waterfalls suburb told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa she was voting
as "a safety measure. I don't want to be troubled."

The woman said she had been ordered on Sunday to vote for Mugabe by
the militia that have brutalized MDC supporters for daring to vote for
Tsvangirai in March.
Lazarus Muza, a 50-something-year-old veteran of Zimbabwe's
independence war, said he was voting to "defend what we fought for.
And to show that March 29 (first round election victory for
Tsvangirai) was a fluke."

A Human Rights Watch rapporteur in Zimbabwe told the BBC that
Mugabe-loyal youth militia had fanned out across the country in the 48
hours preceding the vote, threatening people with violence if they did
not turn out to hand Mugabe a hands-down victory.
The rights body also reported the use of other scare tactics,
including threatening to check people's thumbs for red voting ink.
A foreign observer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some
voters had been ordered to make a note of the their ballot slip serial
number so their vote could later be checked. The observer said long
queues had been observed at voting stations in rural areas but that in
urban areas - MDC strongholds - the turnout had appeared low.
In proceeding with the vote Mugabe defied calls from the United
Nations, the Southern African Development Community, the EU and some
of Zimbabwe's neighbours who had urged him to postpone the vote.
African leaders are expected to make clear their intentions with
regard to Zimbabwe at a meeting of African Union heads of state in
Egypt next week that Mugabe will attend.
The authoritarian Mugabe, whose populist policies are blamed for
the country's economic collapse as evidenced by hyperinflation put by
the MDC at 2 million per cent, has agreed to talks with the opposition
- but only after the election.
Tsvangirai has said the MDC would not partake in talks on a
powersharing administration with an "illegitimate leader."
--SPA

المصدر http://www.spa.gov.sa/details.php?id=569000