Zimbabweans 'voted in fear'

Harare, June 28.- Many Zimbabweans deliberately defaced their ballots in a discredited presidential runoff with President Robert Mugabe as the sole candidate, and voted only out of fear, the head of a foreign observer mission said on Saturday.

Contrary to the state-run newspaper's report of a "massive turnout" in Friday's election, Marwick Khumalo, head of the Pan-African Parliament observer mission, said the turnout was "very, very low".

He also said many of those who did vote cast their ballots for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the race after an onslaught of state-sponsored violence against his Democratic Movement for Change.

Boycotting the poll and spoiling their votes were brave acts by Zimbabweans following the intense violence the opposition faced in the run up to the election. The violence was not only widespread, but some of it was particularly brutal in an attempt by Mugabe supporters to spread fear and stymie support for the opposition.

Many ballot papers defaced

Residents said they were forced to vote by threats of violence or arson from Mugabe supporters who searched for anyone without an ink-stained finger - the telltale sign that they had cast a ballot.

"There was a lot of intimidation for people to vote," said Khumalo, a lawmaker from Swaziland ...

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