afrol News, 12 March - An independent election monitoring group, Zimbabwe Election Support Network has blown the whistle against unfairness ahead of the 29 March polls in Zimbabwe.

The group blamed Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission of releasing a list of polling stations that favoured the ruling Zanu-PF party's rural strongholds.

The network wondered why Harare, an opposition stronghold with 760,000 registered voters should be allocated 379 polling stations. The same situations were reported in the cities of Gweru and Mutare.

The head of the network, Noel Kututwa said many voters would not vote if polling stations were not established in all urban areas.

"It would be unfortunate if the problem of too few polling stations in 2002 is repeated," Kututwa complained.

In another development, a candidate of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Edison Muwengwa, has gone missing. Muwengwa, the candidate for Rushinga local government elections, had reportedly received death threats from the supporters of the Zanu-PF party supporters.

Rushinga, an area that falls on Zimbabwe's northern border with Mozambique, has been a stronghold of the ruling party.

The missing candidate was last seen on 15 February, the day after he had filed nomination papers to contest the polls.

MDC officials grilled the police for their failure to investigate into the disappearance.

Zimbabwean authorities said they would not grant observer status to western countries bent on criticising their country's policies.

President Robert Mugabe, who is seeking a sixth term in office, would be challenged by three candidates, including Morgan Tsvangirai [leader of MDC] and Simba Makoni, a former key figure in the ruling party.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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