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Zimbabwe Presidential election 2013: Voting underway in Mugabe vs Tsvangirai
A voter casts her vote in the Zimbabwe presidential elections, Wednesday July 31, 2013. PHOTO/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP
In an election that poses one of the biggest threats to President Robert Mugabe’s grip on power, Zimbabweans flocked to polling stations Wednesday to determine the future course of this country.
Lines of voters snaked around a school in Harare, where polling booths opened just after the scheduled time of 7 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT) Wednesday.
The contest pits the incumbent President Robert Mugabe, 89, against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, 61, the former opposition leader who teamed up with the president’s party in an uneasy coalition. The power-sharing deal was forged by regional leaders after Zimbabwe’s last disputed election in 2008.
Zimbabwe’s coalition government is effectively dissolved Wednesday. Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have predicted outright victory for their parties that would avoid the formation of another coalition.
Mugabe has promised that if he loses he will hand power over to Tsvangirai.
The official state election body has admitted that administrative, logistical and funding problems have hindered voting arrangements, but said they had been resolved and voting was ready to go ahead at more than 9,000 polling stations across the country.
There are 6.4 million voters in Zimbabwe. The country has a population of 12.9 million people.
Previous elections in 2002 and 2008 were marred by allegations of vote rigging and political violence. Independent groups within the country say there has been little overt violence this time around.
Mugabe has refused to allow Western observer missions, including one from the Jimmy Carter Center, to monitor voting , however, observers from the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the broader African Union are present and active.
Voting is scheduled to close at 7 p.m. local time (1 p.m. EDT) but may be extended to a second day Thursday, according to election officials.
Source: The Associated Press