Zimbabwe refuses vote to 3.4 million

ZIMBABWE’S highest court yesterday barred from voting in the general election later this month 3.4 million citizens living abroad.

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku and four Supreme Court justices said an urgent appeal filed by expatriate Zimbabweans “has no merit and should be dismissed.”

The ruling, from a court led by an ally of President Robert Mugabe, is likely to increase questions about whether the March 31 vote can be free and fair.

Most of those abroad are thought to support the main opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, which was narrowly defeated in disputed elections in June 2000 and March 2002.

Mr Mugabe’s regime has been accused of using violence and intimidation against its opponents in the run-up to the March 31 vote, and of manipulating aid in the impoverished country to influence voters.

At a rally on Thursday at Bikita, Mr Tsvangirai’s home 150 miles south-east of the capital, Mr Mugabe pledged to import grain should current harvests fail, as feared. Happias Zhou, lawyer for the seven British-based Zimbabweans who brought the test case, had argued “their fundamental right to vote had been violated.” Government lawyer Ernest Jena held that those abroad failed to meet residence qualifications.

The ruling stipulated that only diplomats and servicemen posted abroad will be allowed to vote, by mail.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe estimates economic refugees at up to four million, with two million in South Africa, 400,000 in Britain, and large numbers in Canada, the US and Botswana.