President Robert Mugabe led Zimbabwe's ruling party into elections on Thursday vowing to crush a weakened opposition in a poll. Thousands of voters defying an early drizzle huddled under umbrellas in orderly queues that formed at polling stations in the capital Harare hours before polls opened at 7:00 am (0500 GMT). The picture was the same in provincial towns and rural areas where many voters came on bicycles and in donkey-drawn carts. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said one of its candidates in its southern Matabeleland stronghold had disappeared after an attack by ruling party supporters on the eve of the poll. The MDC, seen as underdog against Mugabe's ZANU-PF, said Siyabonga Malandu disappeared from his Isinza constituency 150 km (90 miles) northeast of Bulawayo. Mugabe, 81, and in power since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980, says a big win for ZANU-PF would be a vote for Zimbabwe's sovereignty. Some 5.9 million of Zimbabwe's 12.6 million people are on the voters register. Results are expected within 48 hours of polls closing, Reuters reported.
