Mugabe would lose in any free and fair poll - Zimbabwe Arrests White Opposition Leader *** The MDC says 700 of its candidates have been barred from registering or intimidated from running in the polls. On Sunday it said it had received reports from various parts of the country showing the ruling ZANU-PF had stepped up violence to prevent Zimbabweans from voting freely. "Several MDC candidates and their agents have been blocked from entering the polling stations while some have been assaulted and a few have been reported missing," the MDC said.
Police and electoral officials said they had not received any reports of intimidation and Mugabe's ZANU-PF party dismissed the charges as "a pack of the usual lies." "The truth is that the MDC is frustrated at its failure to win the support of a majority of the people of this country," a ZANU-PF spokesman said. The allegations were also dismissed by Thomas Bvuma, a spokesman for the Electoral Supervisory Commission, who told Zimbabwe state radio the elections were going smoothly and the authorities had not received any complaints.
The MDC, which accuses Mugabe of stealing victory in a presidential election in March, says Mugabe has resorted to political violence in the council elections because he knows he would lose any free and fair poll. ***
Dissident Christians face arrest in Zimbabwe *** HARARE, Zimbabwe - Dissident Christians opposed to their bishop for his support of the ruling party face arrest if they defy an order banning them from weekend services or church activities, their lawyer said Saturday. Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, head of the Anglican Church in Harare, won a court order banning 19 church wardens, officials and choir members after they disrupted his sermons to protest their political content and praise of President Robert Mugabe and his regime. ***