- Title: ZIMBABWE: EARLY VOTING SCENES IN HARARE.
- Date: 31st March 2005
- Summary: (BN05) KWADZANA SUBURB, HARARE, ZIMBABWE (MARCH 31, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. MV/GV: PEOPLE QUEUING AND SECURITY AT POLLING STATION (5 SHOTS) 0.31 2. GV/MV/CU: VARIOUS OF VOTING AND VOTER REGISTRATION (19 SHOTS) 3.18 3. GV/CU: PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE, WAITING TO VOTE; SIGN POINTING TO POLLING STATION (2 SHOTS) 3.33 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED HARARE RESIDENT SAYING: "It's fine, everything is okay and I'm happy to be one of the voters. (REPORTER ASKING: WHO ARE YOU VOTING FOR AND WHY?) "It's for change." (REPORTER ASKING: AND ARE YOU HOPING TO WIN?) "Yes, we are going to win. This time we are going to win. I think somewhat 80 per cent we are going to win. No problem." 4.03 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE RESIDENT SAYING: "It was nice, I'm feeling fine. (REPORTER ASKING WHO SHE VOTED FOR) "Zanu PF" (REPORTER ASKING: DO YOU THINK YOU WILL WIN?) "I think so." 4.22 6. CU/PAN/GV: TWO WOMEN LEAVING POLLING STATION 4.29 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th April 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HARARE, ZIMBABWE
- Country: Zimbabwe
- Reuters ID: LVA3VUESGTPAVOS4L1THCH8TZGIC
- Story Text: Polls open in Zimbabwe.
Voting began on Thursday (March 31) in Zimbabwe's
parliamentary elections, which the opposition and some
Western governments have already dismissed as unfair.
The poll pits President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF
against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), which came close to a shock win in the last
parliamentary elections in 2000. Those polls were marred,
like Mugabe's 2002 re-election, by violence and accusations
of government vote- rigging.
Mugabe will be leading his ruling party into elections
against a weakened opposition but in the face of relentless
international criticism that he has hijacked democracy to
stay in power.
Hundreds of voters braved early morning drizzle to
queue hours before voting started at some stations. Polls
opened in the capital Harare on time at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT).
Some voters said they had been queuing for hours in
order to vote.
One early voter said the MDC would win because voters
would vote for change.
There was a low-key police presence at some voting
stations but no sign of a big police presence in the centre
of Harare. Witnesses said there were some patrols in
outlying townships where there have been anti-government
protests in the past.
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