Mugabe a sure winner as Zimbabwe votes
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-26 18:02

Zimbabwe voters trickled to the polls on Saturday in controversial elections for a new Senate which the opposition is partly boycotting over accusations the poll is designed to consolidate President Robert Mugabe's rule.

Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF this year used its parliamentary majority to create the new 66-seat upper chamber of parliament, which will approve or reject bills passed by the lower house.

The ZANU-PF went into the elections a certain winner, with 35 of the 66 seats already in the bag thanks to laws which guarantee seats to various ruling party loyalists and an opposition stay-away call that has seriously weakened his only real political challengers.

Critics say the new upper house will likely be packed with Mugabe loyalists, further strengthening his grip over the southern African country.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) for people to cast their votes in 31 constituencies, but analysts expect a low vote turnout in a process dismissed by some critics as a farce.

In the first hour of voting, several polling stations in the capital Harare had recorded just a trickle of voters.

"We have started very slowly, but it's smooth. Maybe people are going to come later," said one official at a polling station which had recorded 30 voters in the first 50 minutes.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) split into two feuding factions over the polls after leader Morgan Tsvangirai ordered a boycott, saying participation would lend legitimacy to a government that routinely rigs elections.

But a rival MDC faction led by Secretary-General Welshman Ncube has nevertheless fielded 26 candidates, mostly in the southwestern Matabeleland provinces.

Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, denies he rigs elections or that his controversial policies are to blame for a long-running economic crisis that has left Zimbabwe's 12 million struggling with food, fuel and foreign currency shortages.

The 81-year-old leader says the economy is being sabotaged by Western and domestic opponents trying to oust him for his nationalistic stance but particularly his seizure and redistribution of white-owned farms to landless blacks.

Some 3.2 million voters are registered to vote. Polls close at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT). Results are expected by Monday.