Voters in Zimbabwe waited patiently today to cast their ballots in by-elections in two key suburbs of the Zimbabwe capital, as political tensions ran high between the main opposition and President Robert Mugabe's ruling party.
Mr Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) has vowed to win back the two seats in the suburbs of Highfield and Kuwadzana from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Dozens of voters were seen queuing outside polling stations in Kuwadzana township. State radio reported that around 3,500 out of more than 46,000 registered voters had cast their votes in the suburb by mid-morning.
"Everything's quiet and peaceful," Mr Thomas Bvuma, the spokesman of the state-appointed Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) said.
Mr Bvuma said hundreds of people were queuing up outside polling stations in Highfield before voting started at 7 a.m. (5 a.m. Irish time). By mid-morning there were still long queues of people he said.
Tensions have been running high ahead of the two-day poll. The opposition has already accused the government of irregularly registering thousands of non-resident voters in the two constituencies in order to rig the polls.
It says there are also plans by the ruling party to hand out scarce food supplies to people in the suburb in packages smeared with indelible ink, thus disqualifying potential voters. People with ink on their hands are deemed to have already voted.
AFP