USA CONCERNED ABOUT ZIM ELECTIONS!!

CRISIS-WEARY Zimbabweans flocked to cast their ballots Wednesday in a fiercely contested election overshadowed by accusations of vote-rigging as President Robert Mugabe bids to extend his 33-year rule.

The 89-year-old firebrand, Africa's oldest leader, is running for office for the seventh and perhaps final time, after a series of violent crackdowns, economic crises and suspect elections.

"I am sure people will vote freely and fairly, there is no pressure being exerted on anyone," he said as he cast his vote in a Harare suburb. "So far so good."

The veteran leader, a hero of Africa's liberation movement for his fight against white minority rule who then became an international pariah, had vowed on Tuesday that he would step down if he loses.

"If you lose you must surrender," he said, insisting: "We have done no cheating."

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has voiced concerns that the electoral roll has been rigged. The 61-year-old former union leader, who was forced out of the bloody election race in 2008 after 200 of his supporters were killed, told CNN he took Mugabe's promise to step down "with a pinch of salt". US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki voiced doubts about the way the election would be run.

 

"We do remain concerned about the lack of transparency in electoral preparations, by continued partisan behaviour, by state security institutions, and by the technical and logistical issues."

Still, Tsvangirai cut a confident figure as he cast his own ballot, predicting his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would win "quite resoundingly".

"This is a very historic moment for all of us," he said. It is the time to "complete the change". 

Turnout appeared to be brisk in the urban areas where Tsvangirai has enjoyed his strongest support, and which he must retain to stand any chance of victory. Voters, some wrapped in blankets on a cold winter morning, started queuing at least four hours before polling stations opened.

"I am happy to have cast my vote. I just want an end to the problems in our country," said 66-year-old Ellen Zhakata as she voted in a Harare township.

"All my children are outside the country because of the economic troubles here. I am so lonely. How I wish they could be working here."

Millions of Zimbabweans were forced to migrate to find work elsewhere after an economic collapse exacerbated by the violence-marred 2008 elections.

While this year's campaign has seen little of the bloodshed of 2008, the MDC on Tuesday handed what it claimed was documentary evidence of plans to rig the election to observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The dossier, which an SADC observer said raised serious questions, listed examples of duplicate or questionable voters gleaned from a initial examination of the electoral roll.

In June, the non-governmental Research and Advocacy Unit said after examining an incomplete roll that it included a million dead voters or emigres, as well as over 100 000 people who were more than 100 years old.

"We have seen a lot of duplicate names in the roll, where you see somebody is registered twice, same date of birth, same physical address but with a slight difference in their ID number," junior minister Jameson Timba told AFP.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was ordered Tuesday to fully publish the roll by 10:00hrs on Wednesday, leaving little time to correct problems.

Commission chief Rita Makarau said the delayed access to the roll had affected all parties equally.

"It has not affected one political party, so in a way it remains unfair to all political players," she said.

 

Some 6.4 million people, around half of the population, are eligible to vote in the presidential, parliamentary and local polls.

A candidate needs 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off.Mugabe has focused his campaign on bashing homosexuals and on promises to widen the redistribution of wealth to poor black Zimbabweans. Amid recovery from an economic crisis that saw mass unemployment and galloping inflation, Mugabe loyalists insist their hero is "tried and tested". Tsvangirai hopes his plans to lure back foreign investors, create a million jobs in five years and improve public services will deliver a long-awaited victory.

Credible opinion polls are rare, but according to one survey by the US-based Williams firm in March-April, Mugabe could be in for a rough ride. In a survey of 800 Zimbabweans, 61% said they had a favourable view of the MDC compared with 27% for Mugabe's Zanu PF.The poll showed Tsvangirai leading in seven of 10 provinces and that only 34% of those who voted for Mugabe in 2008 back him this time around. Polling stations close at 17:00hrs and final results are expected with five days.