Zimbabwe election facts

Zimbabwe election facts

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FOLLOWING are some key facts on Zimbabwe's elections.

* Voting in presidential, parliamentary and local government elections will be held on Saturday (March 29). The day is declared a public holiday.

* The 8,998 polling stations will open at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and close at 7 p.m.

* Zimbabwe has a total of 5,934,768 registered voters from a population estimated at over 13 million.

* At stake in the parliamentary election are 210 House of Assembly seats and 60 seats in the Senate, the upper house.

* Vote counting starts immediately after polls close. Parliamentary results will be announced in constituency centres and the presidential result in the capital Harare.

* The main election observer mission is from the Southern African Development Community. Monitors from Western countries critical of Mugabe were barred.

* The winner needs more than 51 percent in the presidential election to avoid a run-off.

* President Robert Mugabe got 56 percent in the last election in 2002. Main rival Morgan Tsvangirai got 42 percent then.

* In the 2005 parliamentary election, Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF won 78 of 120 contested seats while Tsvangirai's MDC won 41 seats. One seat went to an independent
-Reuters
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