Excitement and fear mark polling day

 For many Zimbabweans, excitement at the prospect of removing Mugabe from power was tempered by fear at what the coming week will bring.
The opposition is banking on a massive turnout to produce such a decisive defeat for Mugabe that neither intimidation nor vote rigging can reverse it.
But Zanu (PF) is hopeful that voters have been persuaded that the opposition is a front for western re-colonisation.
If that does not work, the government has planned extensive fraud. The MDC candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, says Zanu (PF) has “crafted and implemented every imaginable trick”, to manipulate the election, but he believes he has won.
“The electoral process has been blatantly and outrageously distorted in favour of the ruling party,” he said. “But the people have made a statement that they want change.”
Mugabe says the burning issue of the election is the ‘war’ for the land and the struggle to prevent Britain re-colonising Zimbabwe. Both Simba Makoni and Tsvangirai say the vote was about the right of Zimbabweans to choose another government that will halt unprecedented economic decay.
The opposition says that Zanu (PF) is preparing to escalate the violence if the president loses and there are persistent warnings of a military coup. All security forces have been placed on high alert.
The opposition had been given scant coverage in state media right up to polling day although a few adverts have been flighted.