Zimbabwe voting chaos continues

Robert Mugabe today agreed to a court order to extend voting in chaotic presidential elections to a third day - but many polling stations remained closed.

Zimbabwe's High Court ruled last night that polling should be extended at stations nationwide after opposition protests over the slow pace of voting in major cities.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on state television today the government would comply with the order under duress, but would only extend voting in Harare and a nearby township because many stations in the rest of the country had been dismantled.

However, observers in Harare said polling stations remained closed three hours after they were due to reopen.

Opposition officials said two senior leaders had been arrested. Derek Madharani, an opposition poll observer, said: "We have exhausted all the channels to plea with this government to be fair to the people, to give them a chance to vote, but our pleas are falling on deaf ears."

Another observer said a few polling stations were processing voters. The opposition has accused the government of trying to rig the elections by preventing urban residents, who mostly support the opposition, from voting.

The government announced turnout figures that showed massive voting in Mugabe strongholds with far fewer voters casting ballots in opposition areas. Official statistics from Zimbabwe's registrar-general showed that only 18 per cent of people in Harare and nearby Chitungweza had "turned out" to vote - although when the polls were due to close queues stretched for up to a mile at polling stations.

One in six Zimbabweans live in the Harare area, which is known to support Mr Mugabe's opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, overwhelmingly. In contrast, the registrar-general, Tobaiwa Mudede, said that in those rural areas where Mr Mugabe is strong, the "turn out" was as high as "44 per cent".

By last night less than half of Zimbabwe's 5.6 million registered voters had managed to get into a booth.

Mr Mudede earlier summed up the government's attitude towards ensuring a universal franchise in Zimbabwe after 22 years of rule by Mr Mugabe saying: "It is not our wish, or intention, to have an extension."

More than 35 white farmers from 15 families fled their homes in an area around Banket, north of Harare, after their names were found on a list of people helping the opposition Movement for Democratic Change with logistics, food, and medical supplies.

Their homes were searched and police took computers. The properties are now vulnerable to occupation by Mr Mugabe's militiamen. The British High Commission confirmed last night that two Britons, believed to be lawyers, were arrested in Runda, in the east of the country, along with an American. They had tried to get access to 100 opposition activists who had been jailed.

In Wedza, Mashonaland East, where Mr Mugabe needs a big win to see off Mr Tsvangirai's challenge, locals have spent the last six months living under a reign of intimidation.

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