ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe ruling party candidate's house bombed

Record ID: 352818

  • Title: ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe ruling party candidate's house bombed
  • Date: 29th March 2008
  • Summary: JUDITH MKWANDA TALKING TO SADC ELECTION OBSERVERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ZANU-PF CANDIDATE, JUDITH MKWANDA SAYING: "Maybe I am a threat, I don't know. Maybe I am a threat. I can only walk tall in believing that my presence is being felt." MORE OF JUDITH TALKING TO ELECTION OBSERVERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ZANU-PF CANDIDATE, JUDITH MKWANDA SAYING: "Not to an extent that I can leave the area, but I was terribly shaken and so much threatened."
  • Embargoed: 13th April 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Zimbabwe
  • Country: Zimbabwe
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAIWXTMEV8158WBIPPZ2P9PW14
  • Story Text: Police spokesman says a bomb exploded in a house belonging to a ZANU-PF candidate.
    Zimbabweans queued to vote on Saturday (March 29) in the most crucial election since independence in 1980, many of them desperate to end the misery of economic collapse under veteran President Robert Mugabe.
    Voting was largely peaceful but police said a bomb exploded in the house of a ruling party candidate in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo, an opposition stronghold. No-one was hurt.

    "Maybe I am a threat, I don't know. Maybe I am a threat. I can only walk tall in believing that my presence is being felt." said Judith Mkwanda.
    Bulawayo is largely seen as an opposition stronghold, but Mkwanda said she would not flee.

    "Not to an extent that I can leave the area, but I was terribly shaken and so much threatened." she added.
    The opposition fears many supporters will not have time to vote, saying polling stations have been distributed in favour of Mugabe's rural strongholds.
    Despite odds stacked against him like never before, analysts say Mugabe has maintained a tight grip on power through a combination of ruthless security crackdowns, intimidation of ruling party rivals and an elaborate patronage system.
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