Posted on 09/09/2001 6:44:49 AM PDT by Clive
Harare - Voting went ahead peacefully on Sunday on the second day of crucial local elections in Zimbabwe, a day after police arrested three opposition members, opposition candidates said.
The two elections - a by-election in Makoni West and a mayoral election in Bulawayo - are seen by many as a popularity test for President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party.
"The situation is calm and peaceful," said Remus Makuwaza, the opposition Movment for Democratic Change's (MDC's) candidate in Makoni West, eastern Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, three MDC members picked up by police from the party's offices in Bulawayo late on Saturday remained in custody early on Sunday, a party official confirmed.
David Coltart, an opposition MP, said: "They were detained last night at 10.15pm on charges of possessing walkie-talkies without a license."
He said the three had been involved in filming what he alleged were attempts by the ruling party to ferry supporters into the city to bolster votes for their candidate.
Voter turnout had improved in Bulawayo since Saturday, said the MDC's mayoral candidate, Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube. Some 38,000 voters, out of more than 300,000 registered in Bulawayo, had cast their ballots by the close of polling on Saturday, an election official told the state-run ZIANA news agency.
An election official in Makoni West told state radio on Sunday that 13,000 of the 42,000 registered voters in Makoni West had also turned out at the polls on Saturday.
The MDC's Makuwaza, speaking by telephone from Makoni West, said that Zanu-PF supporters had gathered outside polling stations in the area to take down the names of voters.
He claimed it was an intimidation tactic used "at almost every polling station" to make people vote for the ruling party. - Sapa-AFP
Stay well - Yorktown
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