ZIMBABWE: Voting in Zimbabwe's chaotic presidential poll was extended into a third day last night as voters continued to cast their ballots by candlelight following a weekend of long queues and widespread intimidation.
The last-minute petition was filed by opposition challenger Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who claimed that President Robert Mugabe had manipulated the poll in urban areas to increase his chances of winning.
Floods of impatient voters overwhelmed polling stations in Harare and the neighbouring Chitungwiza township from dawn on Saturday but by yesterday afternoon many thousands had still not cast their ballots.
The bottleneck was due to a government decision to cut the number of polling stations in Harare - an opposition stronghold - by one-third while increasing the numbers in the countryside - where Mr Mugabe is most popular - by up to 50 per cent.
After a helicopter ride over the lengthy queues, a High Court judge ruled to extend voting until this evening throughout the whole country.
In Chitungwiza there was a mood of weary defiance among the voters, some of whom had queued for over 30 hours.
"We are tired and we are hungry. But we will not eat until we have voted," said Mr Peter Lovemore (19).
Many voters also complained that the pace of voting was abnormally slow.
While the obstruction tactics were bureaucratic in the cities, they took a violent form in the countryside.
Election monitoring groups reported a string of attacks, mostly perpetrated by government youth militia gangs.
At least two MDC polling agents were reported murdered - one drowned in a dam, the other burned alive - and several others were still missing last night.
Several local and international observers were harassed or prevented from visiting polling stations. Two Britons and two Americans were arrested in the eastern province of Manicaland.
Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister, Mr John Nkomo, said they had been carrying "illegal radio equipment" being used to "disrupt the elections".
By late afternoon patience was running thin in Chitungwiza.
"I am almost there now," said Mr Africa Moyo (21), who had been waiting in line for over 24 hours. "I decided who to vote for two years ago. It's an open secret that we are sick and tired of Mugabe".
At the top of the line, the presiding officer said voters were being processed at a rate of 75 an hour. But at least 500 voters were standing outside, three hours before the official close of polls.
"We should make it by seven," he said with an optimism that defied simple mathematics.
But the voting continued by candlelight after nightfall as officials awaited the outcome of the High Court decision.
Earlier in the day there was an atmosphere of tense calm in Centenary, 150 kilometres to the north.
MDC official, Mr Peter Mukorera, said he had been attacked by armed youths in Utete, 40 kilometres away, on Saturday night.
The gang stoned and set ablaze two MDC pick-ups, then fired several shots before his group managed to flee into the bush.
"I took off my shirt off in case they would see me," he said. They had been unable to escape in their vehicles, he explained, because local police had earlier confiscated the keys.
He asked for a lift out of the area, saying he feared further attacks by a gang of youths patrolling the town.
In contrast with the election clamour in Harare, voting in Centenary - a traditional Mugabe heartland - was almost over by lunchtime. The number of stations in the area had been increased by 82 per cent.
Ian Smith votes:
Recalling the "happy black faces" when he was prime minister of the former Rhodesia, Mr Ian Smith voted in Zimbabwe's presidential election yesterday and said the country had gone to the dogs.
"I mean the country is in chaos, it's bankrupt, there's really no freedom," the spry 82-year-old, who still drives himself around Harare, said after voting at the Alexandra school polling station.