DATE=3/12/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ZIMBABWE ELECTION (L-O)

NUMBER=2-287456

BYLINE=CHALLISS MCDONOUGH

DATELINE=HARARE

INTERNET=YES

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Election officials in Zimbabwe are counting ballots in the country's controversial presidential election. Before the results are even known, two independent civic groups are condemning the elections as terminally flawed. V-O-A's Challiss McDonough has more from Harare.

TEXT: The ballot-counting had barely begun when independent civic groups began blasting the Zimbabwean presidential election as un-free and unfair.

Two independent Zimbabwean groups that have been observing the poll say tens-of-thousands of people were unable to vote. They say that is especially true in Harare and the nearby city of Chitungwiza, where voting was extended by one day to allow more people to cast their ballots. People waited in slow-moving lines for as long as three-days, but were still turned away when the polls were finally closed at 7:00 P-M Monday.

Reginald Matchaba-Hove of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network:

/// MATCHABA-HOVE ACT ///

Even as the vote-counting begins, tens-of-thousands of Zimbabweans have been deliberately and systematically disenfranchised of their fundamental rights to participate in the governance of their country. Without the participation of the full electorate, there can be no democracy.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Matchaba-Hove says this was by far the most flawed election in Zimbabwe's 20-years of independence.

/// 2ND MATCHABA-HOVE ACT ///

There is no way that these elections can be described as substantially free and fair... Whereas before we have complained about the conduct of elections, in real terms they were relatively well run on the days of polling. But on this occasion, for the first time, the Friday and the polling days, Saturday and Sunday, and the additional polling day in Harare and Chitungwiza, was chaotic, filled with lots of confusion. We have never seen such a poorly organized election.

/// END ACT ///

Another civic organization, the Crisis in Zimbabwe Group, said, in the words of the chairman, "the election well has been poisoned to such an extent that there is unlikely to be any other result" than a victory for incumbent President Robert Mugabe.

Both civic groups are coalitions of many other smaller organizations dealing with human-rights issues in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network had about 300-observers formally accredited to monitor the voting, and hundreds more unofficial election observers.

But the group says its observers have been targeted for harassment and arrest. It says 150 of them are still in jail in Manicaland province alone.

The two groups warn the government that if the Zimbabwean people see the election as rigged, it could lead to civil unrest. Mr. Matchaba Hove:

/// 3RD MATCHABA-HOVE ACT ///

We believe that government, to its own peril, would risk not listening to the people. The patience of the people has been drawn to a very thin thread, and transparent electoral processes were perhaps one of the last opportunities we had to resolve conflict in a peaceful manner.

/// END ACT ///

A spokesman for the ruling party, ZANU-P-F, denies that there has been any rigging. Spokesman Jonathan Moyo says the party would not be able to rig an election even if it wanted to. He says the ZANU-P-F is confident of victory, but only because its voters went to the polls in large numbers. (SIGNED)

NEB/CEM/KL/RAE