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'God is the only one watching your vote'
Nqobizitha Khumalo, ZimOnline
March 21, 2008

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2909

Zimbabwean churches under the umbrella of the Christian Alliance civic group have begun a campaign to encourage Christians to vote in the elections and assure them that their vote next week would be secret. The campaign is seeking to persuade about four million Christians to vote following a survey carried out by the group last year that showed that the majority of Christians in Zimbabwe were reluctant to vote in the polls.

Christian Alliance spokesperson, Useni Sibanda, told ZimOnline that the campaign would focus on reassuring voters, particularly in rural areas that their vote was a secret. "We have heard stories where people are afraid to vote because they fear that they will be watched by the police when they cast their vote and that is the reason why we have embarked on the campaign.

"We have fliers with the message - 'Go and Vote - God is the only one watching'.

We are urging Christians to go and vote without any fear," said Sibanda. Zimbabweans go to the polls next week to elect a new president, parliamentarians and local government representatives. Zimbabwe human rights groups have in the past accused President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party of intimidating voters in rural areas to vote for the party. Mugabe earlier this week amended the country's electoral Act by allowing police officers into polling booths to assist illiterate and physically incapacitated voters to cast their ballots. The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has condemned the electoral change saying Mugabe wanted to use the police to intimidate voters into voting for Mugabe and ZANU PF. Sibanda said the group would also distribute fliers in the local indigenous languages urging Christians around the country to go and vote on 29 March. Mugabe faces what analysts say could be his biggest electoral test in a presidential race against his respected former finance minister Simba Makoni and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who have both promised to unseat him.

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