Vote extended to day 3 in Zimbabwe

Queues of voters has led to allegations of poll rigging

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Polling stations reopened for a third consecutive day on Monday to enable thousands of waiting voters to put their crosses on their ballot papers.

Witnesses told Reuters voting resumed shortly after 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) at polling stations in Harare's Warren Park, Highlands and Mabvuku townships.

Some booths had stayed open late on both Saturday and Sunday in an effort to get the thousands of voters processed in the presidential elections.

But up to 4,000 people remained standing in queues in parts of the capital Harare after polls were officially to have closed at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Sunday, CNN's Jeff Koinange said.

Government officials confirmed late on Sunday that voting would carry on during Monday, in line with demands made by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and election monitors.

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But Koinange said a government appeal had been made against the High Court's decision.

Koinange added: "The decision to extend voting into a third day is good news for those in Harare. Between 3,500 and 4,000 people are still waiting. It is also good news for opposition candidates."

He added, people had been waiting for between 10 and 15 hours in some parts of the country.

"They are extremely determined, resilient, and tolerant. They see it as the only way to make a real lasting difference."

Results are now expected to take between 48 hours and 72 hours, depending on the number of people who vote.

The MDC's leader Morgan Tsvangirai had accused the government of reducing the number of polling stations to prevent his supporters voting.

The election is the toughest test for incumbent President Robert Mugabe in his 22 years of power.

Though polling was orderly on Sunday, 30 people were injured the day before when police fired tear gas at impatient voters trying to force their way into a polling station outside the capital city of Harare. (Day one. Full story)

Long queues and slow voting had been a feature of the first day of voting and continued into the following day.

Tsvangirai, who celebrated his 50th birthday on Sunday, had called the voting station delays a last-ditch effort by Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party to remain in power.

Reginald Matchaba-Hove, of the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network, had backed calls for additional days for voting.

The campaign leading to this weekend's vote has been marred by arrests and accusations of political intimidation from both sides.

Mugabe, 78, has called the MDC puppets of Britain who would take their country into the past "when whites built their wealth on the backs of black labour."

Tsvangirai said his priority on winning power would be to restore law and order, address a food shortage threatening nearly a third of the country's 13 million people, promote national reconciliation and consider setting up a government of national unity.