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Robert Mugabe 'printing fake ballots to rig poll'
Peta Thornycroft and Sebastien Berger, The Telegraph
March 24, 2008

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/24/wzim124.xml

Opposition leaders warn the Zimbabwean government is printing millions more ballot papers than there are registered electors - raising fears of a huge vote-rigging operation ahead of next weekend's election.

The registered electorate for the presidential and parliamentary polls is about 5.9 million. But the Movement for Democratic Change says it has obtained leaked documents showing nine million papers have been ordered.

Robert Mugabe, who is seeking a sixth term in office, is in a three-way fight with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Simba Makoni, a former finance minister in the ruling Zanu-PF party.

If used in Mr Mugabe's favour the extra ballot papers would be enough to ensure that he passes the 51 per cent of the vote required to be declared the outright victor.

Documents also show that 600,000 ballot papers have been ordered for a few thousand soldiers and state employees working away from home, the MDC says.

The number of Zimbabweans who have left the country's economic turmoil to seek a better life abroad is estimated to be between one to three million. But despite opposition demands during talks mediated by the South African government, the diaspora has not been granted the right to vote.

Tendai Biti, the MDC's secretary-general, said: "We are extremely worried about the extra ballot papers. If he steals the election, he will get a temporary reprieve. But that will guarantee him a dishonourable if not bloody exit. Either way he's in a no-win situation."

Mr Mugabe is widely believed to have stolen the last election in 2002. This time around, observers from Western governments have been banned and few independent media accreditations have been issued. The electoral roll is allegedly padded with the names of dead people and polling stations are relatively few in the opposition strongholds of Harare and Bulawayo, with procedures being changed to allow police into them.

At a rally in Harare, Mr Tsvangirai told tens of thousands of supporters: "The polling stations will open late and there will be no power, no lights. They will have trouble with the toilets and they will be in a muddle with the ballots and the voters' roll."

The veteran opposition leader is enjoying a surge in support in the run-up to the election, which Mr Makoni's candidacy has made the most open since independence.

Zimbabwe's economy went into reverse after Mr Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms in 2000. It is the fastest shrinking in the world outside a war zone. Inflation is running at more than 100,000 per cent. About 80 per cent of the population is unemployed and a third needs food aid.

Mr Mugabe admitted at the weekend he was not immune to the deteriorating infrastructure, revealing there was no running water at his residence.

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