'I want my party to win'
31/03/2005 11:23  - (SA)  

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Morgan Tsvangirai casts his vote in Harare. (Karel Prinsloo, AP)

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Harare - Zimbabweans were holding landmark elections on Thursday that President Robert Mugabe hopes will tighten his ruling party's 25-year grip on power after weeks of campaigning that were surprisingly free of the bloodshed that marred past polls.

Under an early-morning drizzling rain, thousands of people could be seen queueing at polling stations in Harare's oldest township of Mbare to vote in the parliamentary elections that will be closely watched to see whether they will be free and fair.

"I wanted to be the first in the queue, to be served early," said Beauty Chigutiare who stood in the queue in Mbare along with women with babies strapped to their backs.

"We need change," she said. "We want jobs, we want good houses."

'I want my party to win'

"I want my party, the usual party, to win," said ruling party supporter Comfort Size, a firewood vendor. "We would expect it to win. We would expect it to continue with what they have been doing."

Africa's last independence leader, Mugabe is vying for a two-thirds majority for his Zanu-PF party in the elections but civic groups and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) say a shock may be in store for the 81-year-old founding president.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai turned up at a Harare school around mid-morning to cast his ballots and sounded confident of victory even though he asserted that "this is not going to be a free and fair election."

"The people will speak today and I am hoping that the outcome will be an MDC victory, I have no doubts about that," Tsvangirai said.

The elections for 120 contested seats in parliament will be closely watched to gauge whether Mugabe will live up to his commitment to hold a free and fair vote following the last two ballots that western observers said were rigged and marred by violence.

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