Harare
27 June 2008
Voting got off to a slow start in the uncontested presidential runoff poll in Zimbabwe in which President Robert Mugabe is seeking to entrench himself as president for an another five years. However, as Peta Thornycroft reports for VOA from Harare, the outcome is unlikely to be recognized, even by Mr. Mugabe's neighbors.
More than 9,000 polling stations are mostly in schools or government buildings but a few are in tents as in a Harare suburb where two members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police were already on duty early yesterday. One officer told VOA he and his colleagues were required to vote in the presence of their superiors. He suggested that perhaps he had defaced his ballot. Known as spoiling the ballot, it is a tactic common in this region when voters do not support the process or the candidates.
There are no independent domestic election observers, however there will be observers from ZANU-PF aligned organizations. The Southern Africa Development Community said they had been going around to some of the polling stations checking to see if there was any trouble.
Military sources in Harare said Thursday that the people employed Friday to preside over the elections were security forces dressed in plain clothes. The electoral laws specifically prohibit members of the security forces from involvement in the elections.
Since those SADC mediated laws were amended in January, Mr. Mugabe passed a decree allowing police back inside polling stations.