More chaos as police vote in Zimbabwe poll

ELECTION | Army bosses back Mugabe Rowdy officers break barrier to cast ballots as Premier blames `disorganised' agency imbabwe’s riot police were called control security officers who tried to force their way into a Harare polling station on Monday night, as a two-day special voting exercise was extended to midnight. Polling stations were initially expected to close at 7 pm but many of the security forces and civil servants who will be on duty during the July 31 election had not voted due to delays in the distribution of ballot papers. A number of polling stations closed yesterday morning after thousands of armed forces turned up to vote at night. At the voting centre in central Harare, impatient officers broke a security barrier manned by police before making their way into the polling station. The riot police contigent had to be called in after pleas by senior officers for calm fell on deaf ears. Police blamed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for the chaos, saying the party did not want the security forces to cast their votes. MDC has gone to the High Court to challenge the special voting, arguing that the number of police voters was inflated. The party says only 41,133 members of the police are eligible to vote, instead of the 69,000 approved by the Zimbabwe Electoral Com mission (ZEC). The case will be heard today. Police spokesperson Charity Charamba said the court case had hampered ZEC’s preparations for the polls. “The electoral commission was therefore unable to print ballot papers as they did not have the final list of candidates,” she claimed. “It is now clear that members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police have been unable to exercise their constitutional right to vote.” Commanders of Zimbabwe’s security forces have been openly campaigning for President Robert Mugabe, vowing that Mr Tsvangirai must never be allowed to rule the country. Meanwhile, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called for a peaceful election in Zimbabwe. “Voters must have unfettered access,” Tanzanian Foreign Affairs minister Bernard Membe who is heading a SADC observer mission told journalists in Harare. P