Harare — Chaos and confusion reigned Monday in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, on the third, unscheduled day of voting in the presidential election, ordered by the High Court late Sunday. This followed the successful legal application by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to have the voting period extended.
Polling stations were supposed to open at 07:00h, in the opposition strongholds of Harare and neighbouring Chitungwiza, as well as throughout the country. But by 1130a.m., many voting places in the capital had still not opened their doors, or had opened and then closed again. Others were open, but voting had not begun, despite another day of huge queues of hopeful but frustrated would-be voters.
The MDC has said that only a quarter of the electorate in Harare has had a chance to vote.
The confused and increasingly volatile situation in parts of Harare prompted criticism from both the opposition MDC and foreign election observers, a number of whom had witnessed police forcing people to leave voting stations on Sunday night after the court ruling, ordering them to return on Monday morning.
The MDC party of the opposition presidential challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, has again cried foul. But journalists who were invited to a news conference chaired by Tsvangirai on Monday morning detected an air of resignation among senior MDC members, who have repeatedly accused President Robert Mugabe's government of political violence and using dirty tricks, intimidation, stringent new security laws and sweeping powers to rig the vote.
Tsvangirai, who turned 50 on Sunday, urged his followers to exercise control. "Restrain yourselves so you do not allow their sinister plans to succeed. As you wait for the results, do not succumb to their provocative traps," he said in a statement. "Yes, we share your fear that the result will be rigged, but let us complete the process we began together in our campaign for a better life for all Zimbabweans."
The opposition leader said he was not considering pulling out of the election, despite the MDC's repeated allegations of widespread cheating by the government. "I am not conceding defeat, but anyone who thinks he can endorse this process must have his head examined," he told the news conference.
The opposition confirmed earlier reports, Monday, that the party's number three official, the secretary Welshman Ncube, had been arrested by police at a road block, south-west of Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo. The MDC said the reason for his detention remained unclear, but added that a policeman present at the arrest had asked what a man facing treason charges, for alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Mugabe, was doing so close to the border.
Tsvangirai again told reporters that Mugabe was doing his utmost to prevent MDC supporters from voting at any cost. "We are in the third day of voting where there is no voting taking place... in Harare and Chitungwiza, multitudes of potential voters are being disenfranchised," said Tsvangirai.
Monday dawned with the now familiar snaking lines of voters waiting once more to cast their ballot in Harare. But in all the confusion, most had not voted by late morning, despite having spent half the night in line.
Conflicting and contradictory instructions from government officials and ministers (including a late night radio announcement that the authorities would only partially comply with the high court ruling to extend the vote) made matters worse.
Riot police at some polling stations refused to allow election officials to start the business of the day, claiming that they had not been given such instructions.
At 13:00h, Reginald Matchaba-Hove, of Zimbabwe's Electoral Support Network, told the BBC that it appeared that polling stations had slowly begun to open from late morning.
"The polling stations should have been opened, some were opened, but then they suddenly all closed at 09:00h.. After our protests here and a bit of representation, we understand that a letter did eventually go from the [election] registrar general's office around 11:20h. and by 11:30h., the polling stations started processing people in Harare and Chitungwiza only," he said.
The High Court had ruled Sunday that polling should be extended for a day throughout the country, but overnight the government announced on state radio that it would only agree with the order to continue polling in and around the capital
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Matchaba-Hove said his network was concerned about information coming from provincial towns. "We are extremely worried because we have had reports from Gweru in particular, but also from Bulawayo and Mutare and Masvingo that not everyone who should have voted has voted."
He said that in some rural areas, such as Matabeleland, word had spread that voting would be extended to Monday and Tuesday "and the information was that Monday and Tuesday were for those who were going to vote for the opposition. So a lot of people were expecting that the voting would be extended countrywide."
Matchaba-Hove noted that valuable time had been lost in Harare, because people who should have begun voted at 7am had still not cast their ballot five hours later.
But Zimbabwean voters still appear determined to have their say. One man told reporters on Monday morning, "I was here from Saturday, no chance to vote. Sunday, no chance to vote. I was here till 10pm. Maybe today I'm gonna vote."
