Zimbabwe’s closely watched national legislative election drew a huge throng of generally peaceful voters Thursday, a turnout that some said bodes well for the opposition forces’ campaign to challenge President Robert Mugabe’s 25-year grip on power.
But while officials of both the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front predicted sweeping victories, definitive results were not expected until Friday at the earliest. Nor was it clear whether the opposition’s predictions of wholesale election fraud by Mugabe’s forces, repeated again Thursday, would be borne out as vote counting proceeded.
The tally was moving slowly in many areas late Thursday, a trend that opposition officials called worrisome, saying the delay would increase the opportunity for tampering.
In sharp contrast with legislative and presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2002, when Mugabe’s supporters were accused of killing more than 300 opponents, Thursday’s vote for 120 of the 150 seats in Zimbabwe’s parliament was peaceful. Mugabe, 81, had called for an end to election-related violence as part of a broader effort to depict this election–which could lay the groundwork for an orderly succession to his rule–as legitimate.
More than 6,000 election observers, including a small foreign contingent mostly from nations friendly to Mugabe, monitored the voting at 8,265 polling stations. Non-governmental election watchdogs cited several troubling issues, led by the fact that 1 in 4 voters was apparently turned away.
Mugabe has long predicted that the ballot would deliver his party, known as ZANU-PF, a two-thirds majority in parliament, which would allow him to revise the nation’s constitution and cement his party’s control. In recent days, however, his party’s flaccid campaign and a wave of support for the opposition–known by its initials, MDC–have led some politicians to forecast an upset.
As the polls closed, one top MDC official said the opposition party would very likely wrest control of parliament from Mugabe when the votes are counted, even if the accusations of fraud against ZANU-PF and government election officials prove true.
That official, Eddie Cross, said the party appeared likely to claim 80 of the 120 seats up for grabs, more than the 76 it needs to control parliament.
More Top Picks Best Massage Recliners For Home Use For Women