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Election in Mugabe’s homeland

With so much of the attention in Harare, Al Jazeera captures the vote from its outskirts.

Election day in Mugabe''s homeland
Thousands queued up at voting stations across the country, some even arriving at the crack of dawn [Azad Essa/Al Jazeera]
By Azad Essa
Published On 1 Aug 20131 Aug 2013
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Zvimba district, Zimbabwe – They came in their thousands. Wrapped in blankets, and tightly covered in woolen scarves, Zimbabweans braved an icy winter’s morning on Wednesday to vote in an election touted as among the most important, and closest in the country’s history.

Voting across the country took place without any major incident, polling stations opened on time in most places and as the vote neared completion, electoral officials, observers and even the main opposition party, the MDC-T, expressed relative satisfaction with the proceedings.

Voter turnout in the urban areas, traditional strongholds of the opposition, was high, fueling speculation that these elections would work in Morgan Tsvangirai’s favour.

But the morning after, old questions over the vote’s credibility began to resurface.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC-T party called the elections “a huge farce” and described the process as “null and void”.

The vote might have been peaceful, say local observers but the irregularities run far and deep.

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Over 70 percent of Zimbabweans live in the rural areas and with attention almost entirely focussed on electoral fraud and the urban vote, it is on the city outskirts and in the rural villages where the real battle for the country’s soul, was always likely to take place.

Al Jazeera travelled to President Robert Mugabe’s home district, Zvimba in Mashonaland West, to capture the mood mostly outside the lens of foreign media.

Election day in Mugabe''s homeland
Despite the irregularities, many voting stations made the best of their circumstances to host the vote [Azad Essa/AlJazeera]
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Election day in Mugabe''s homeland
There were however many people who were turned away for being at the wrong station or for failing to have the required documents [Azad Essa/Al Jazeera]
Election day in Mugabe''s homeland
Mohamed Abdulla Makalani, 87, like many other elders were participating having voted in Zimbabwe(***)s inaugural election in 1980 [Azad Essa/Al Jazeera]
Election day in Mugabe''s homeland
Once the skies cleared, thousands basked in the warm winter(***)s sun waiting for their turn
Election day in Mugabe''s homeland
There are many allegations that officials allowed Headman in the rural areas to (***)(***)assist(***)(***) voters cast their ballot [Azad Essa/Al Jazeera]
Election day in Mugabe''s homeland
For millions of Zimbabweans, economic prosperity, opportunity and employment remains at the core of their motivations to vote in this election [Azad Essa/Al Jazeera]
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Election day in Mugabe''s homeland
Politicians have urged ordinary Zimbabweans to cast their ballot as means of facilitating change in the country [Azad Essa/Al Jazeera]
Election day in Mugabe''s homeland
In the thousands of make shift polling stations across the country, voting went on till midnight [Azad Essa/ Al Jazeera]


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