As voting continues on the second and final day in the Zimbabwean parliamentary elections, officials from President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party say they would bar the opposition from government whatever the results. At a press conference in Harare, the national chairman of Zanu-PF, John Nkomo, said under the constitution, President Mugabe had the sole right to appoint the cabinet from those elected to parliament. He added there would be no opposition within the government. The main opposition the Movement for Democratic Change is mounting a serious challenge to the Zanu-PF party, which has held power for 20 years. Final results are expected on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Election monitors were expelled from several polling stations in the capital, Harare, yesterday. It's understood they were asked to leave the stations by police, who said they had not been accredited. 16,000 monitors have been deployed in 4000 polling stations around the country, to ensure the two-day elections are not rigged. Zimbabwe's main opposition party reported widespread acts of intimidation yesterday. However, international monitors said that overall the vote proceeded smoothly.
Voters started casting their ballots in the two-day poll shortly after 7am yesterday, in over 4000 polling stations across the southern African country. Around five million people are eligible to vote in the two-day parliamentary poll. Voters in Harare said they waited for up to two hours to vote. They stood in long lines to cast their ballot but said they were pleased to have had the chance to vote.
