Thursday, 7 March, 2002, 02:43 GMT
Mugabe rivals mount legal challenge
Zimbabwe's main opposition party is going to court to contest
last-minute changes by President Robert Mugabe to the election law, two
days before voting begins.
The Movement for Democratic Change is renewing its accusation that Mr
Mugabe is trying to rig the poll - but opposition representatives still
maintain their candidate can win.
"We are going into the election with our eyes open, knowing that it is
unfree, unfair", MDC spokesman
As well as the legal challenge, the opposition is voicing concerns
about the authorities' failure to announce the location of 4,548
polling stations or publish voter lists.
At its latest briefing for foreign election observers and the media on
Wednesday, the official Electoral Supervisory Commission was unable to
say how many ballot papers had been printed or when voter lists would
be made public.
Nor could commission chairman Sobuza Gula-Ndebele, a retired army
colonel, say why only 23 local observers had been accredited out of
12,000 nominees.
Under the president's decree, voters have to prove they are residents
of the constituency in which they will be casting their vote.
The opposition says the restrictions will have a disproportionate
impact on its urban-dwelling supporters and it believes it could cost
them tens of thousands of votes.
MDC spokesman Welshman Ncube said: "We are going into the election with
our eyes open, knowing that it is unfree, it is unfair and that there
is a large possibility of cheating and rigging.
"But we believe that if the overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans come
out and vote, their rigging will come to nothing and we will still be
able to win the election."
Mugabe defiant
But the government, with equal vigour, continues to reject all
allegations of rigging.
It says it has recruited 22,000 government employees to be deployed as
election monitors, and promises they will act impartially.
It also says some of the pre-election violence could be the work of an
unidentified third force.
On Wednesday, Mr Mugabe warned that he would pursue MDC candidate
Morgan Tsvangirai once the election is "out of the way".
ZIMBABWE VOICES
"We don't discuss politics because you're never sure who might be
listening", Comfort, a student
Mr Tsvangirai has been accused of treason over a secretly recorded
video purporting to show him discussing Mr Mugabe's assassination with
Canadian consultants who were actually working for the government.
"No murderer will go unpunished. No one we know to have planned such
deeds will escape," Mr Mugabe said in comments at a rally carried by
state-owned television.
In his address to the public, Mr Mugabe accused Mr Tsvangirai of being
a stooge of Britain and the country's former white minority rulers.
"You suffered for this country while the Tsvangirais fled the war...
Now he is licking the white man's boots," Mr Mugabe said.
-
BBC News
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