Activist report: 9am

The ballot papers are not colour coded in totality. The Presidential, Senatorial and House of Assembly papers are white with a block at the top denoting the relevant colour for the vote type, white for Presidential, green for Senatorial and blue for House of Assembly, MP. Only the Council papers are entirely yellow. Each voting sector has its own box, and is marked by a small strip of colour. It is not easy for an illiterate person to cope with the procedure. Already one man at a station in Bulawayo, the fifth to vote in his ward, made the error of putting all four papers into the first box for President. At least his vote for President will be valid, the rest are spoilt.

Harare
Yesterday a group of French speaking West African observers were seen at a popular Portuguese restaurant in the city centre. They arrived at noon and by 6 pm were still ensconced at their table, swigging imported wine and in no fit state to carry out their duty. So much for reliable observers.

This morning in Harare the streets are quiet with few cars on the road. The queues are growing with Avonlea already into a thousand people waiting.

Troops have been seen in carriers prowling the streets. Apparently they are showing their pink fingers to the people they pass, proud they have voted!

Police at one police station were seen parading in riot gear.

Apparently a young woman in Harare whose father is in the police has information that there was widespread rigging in the police postal ballot. However she is too afraid to go online and report it to the Zimbabwe Democracy Now’s initiative to pay handsome rewards for this kind of information.

Bob has been spied careering around in party regalia, this is meant to be illegal.

Karoi
6 additional stations were opened overnight. The polling agents for the opposition have had to split up to cover their duties, meaning each station now has only one opposition agent per station.

Gokwe
Low flying jets circled this rural area early this morning. The intimidation there is growing.

West Zvimba
A group of 9 MDC supporters and polling agents were attacked by over 100 Zanu PF supporters. One of the polling agents was put under house arrest and told not to bother to do his job. He has already left his house and is determined to carry out his duty. His bravery is formidable.

Kariba
An unconfirmed report has come in that only one polling station is serving the whole of Kariba town. People started queuing yesterday to make sure their voices are heard.

Bulawayo

Ward 2, Bulawayo East
19 polling stations were opened but without any opposition Polling Agents on duty. ZEC had “lost” the official accreditation forms and all the agents had to go to the ZEC command centre to get copies of their forms made.

Voting average times per polling station are averaging at around 35 to 40 votes being cast per hour. Each polling station serves approximately 1000 registered voters. If there is a 50% turnout then voting should take about 12 ½ hours. However, most people believe turnout is going to be far higher. It is going to be a long day.

This entry was posted by Harare activists on Saturday, March 29th, 2008 at 12:38 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.