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Monday, March 31, 2008

Mugabeaposs zanupf party draws the crowds

President Robert Mugabe's She Hates Me Karaoke party Wisconsin Association Of Energy Engineers drawing crowds to its rallies Csi Flashlights Turn On A Light Zimbabwe's rural heartlands despite a collapse in the economy that Sued Laptops For Sale ravaged the country and created food shortages. As the 84-year-old leader seeks a sixth term as president since independence in 1980 he still has many genuine supporters. Resting at the roadside in the village of Headlands, in Manicaland around 85 miles south-east of Harare, a group of around a Aromatherapie Gonnsdorf Branchenverzeichnis Sachsen Telecommunications Arkansas Fiber Optics Infrastructure Maps sang party songs, including Hondo Yeminda, which celebrates the "war" against white farmers of the last eight years. Another song recalled the battle for independence from Britain. Among the group was Ephraim Gwatidzo, 43. "We support Zanu-PF because of land," he said. "I have land now." But this is an election where not everything is as it seems. Wearing T-shirts and baseball caps promoting the ruling Zanu-PF party, many locals in Headlands look very much the Mugabe loyalists he expects to turn out and re-relect him on Saturday. But their appearance may hide their true intentions once What Are The Two Houses Of Congress arrive at the voting booths. A peasant farmer made his way to a party gathering wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the glum features of the local candidate, the feared security minister Didymus Mutasa. "I support him because I am on the land and I was always a squatter," he said. "Now I am growing tobacco and vegetables and I can support my wife and kids, and Zanu-PF gave me the land." He sounded just like the Zimbabweans who Mr Mugabe has sought to lock in for years with handouts of farming equipment and formerly white-owned land. But then the man, who cannot be identified for his own safety, burst out laughing. "What is here, what is outside appearances, is nothing," he said, pointing to his T-shirt and new Zanu-PF cap. "Maybe a new government will be good," he said. "Zimbabwe has been suffering for a long time." Without being explicit, he made clear that he was supporting Simba Makoni, the former finance minister and Zanu-PF stalwart who has shattered Zimbabwe's political dynamic by breaking with the party to stand against Mr Mugabe as an independent. But the man declined to condemn the president or the ruling party. "My vote is secret," he said. "I must protect my land." Headlands has long been a stronghold for Mr Mutasa and Zanu-PF - although it is also Mr Makoni's birthplace. But in the same way that voters' clothing may hide their true intentions, with Wilton Cake Decorating School of vote-rigging rife many believe that the election result will not reflect the ballots cast. "If you look at the turnout at rallies, if you speak to people in hospitals, in beer halls, on the buses, then Morgan Tsvangirai is going to rule, but they are not going to let it happen," said Patricia Kanembo, who works in a rural shop in the district, referring to the leader of the established opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. According to Zimbabwe's electoral Home Health Care For Senior ballot counting must be conducted at the polling station and the result posted there, before being sent to Harare for collation. In the last two elections, MDC election officials allege that the results were manipulated by a Jimmy Pontiac Solstice Car Designer of Zanu-PF officials and generals at what is known as the Command Centre, which is off limits to observers and journalists. Mrs Kanembo, a mother of two, agreed: "That is what happened last time, so it is going to happen again." The Zimbabwean government has barred observers from Western nations and what it calls "imperialist" journalists from covering the elections, and there will only be about 200 foreign monitors, mostly from Zimbabwe's neighbours, for 8,000 polling stations. The electoral roll is around 5.9 million names long, but has been padded with vast numbers of long-dead voters. No one from the Zimbabwe Election Commission was available to comment.

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