Zimbabwe's opposition accuses government of vote-rigging

Zimbabwe's main opposition party accused the government Sunday of trying to rig the vote in the upcoming presidential election by trying to print three million extra paper ballots.

Secretary general Tendai Biti of the Movement for Democratic Change said leaked documents from government printers showed nine million ballot papers were ordered when only 5.9 million people are registered to vote in the March 29 election.

"We are extremely worried about the extra ballot papers," Biti said.

Documents supplied by Fidelity Printers, also producers of the country's bank notes, showed that an additional 600,000 postal ballot papers were ordered for a few thousands soldiers, police and civil servants away from their residential districts and for overseas diplomats and their families.

The head of the country's electoral commission, Judge George Chiweshe, declined to comment on the allegations but told reporters that his duty is to ensure free and fair elections.

Main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he expected President Robert Mugabe to "engage in every trick in the book" to rig the Zimbabwean vote.

Earlier this month, Mugabe, 84, signed a new law requiring foreign- and white-owned businesses in Zimbabwe to hand over 51 per cent control of their operations to blacks.

The new law is part of Mugabe's election campaign strategy of what he calls "economic empowerment."

The March 29 vote is occurring amid an economic meltdown that has left Zimbabwe with the world's highest official inflation — 26,470 per cent — and serious shortages of gas, food and most basic goods.