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FACTBOX: Zimbabweans vote in one-man poll

HARARE
Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:57pm EDT

HARARE (Reuters) - Below is reaction to the one-candidate presidential election in Zimbabwe on Friday after President Robert Mugabe defied world condemnation and calls to postpone the poll, which the opposition says is a farce.

World

ZIMBABWEAN BOTTLING COMPANY EMPLOYEE

"My brother, these days if you want peace and you value your health, you just don't go around expressing your political views to anyone," said the middle-aged man.

"Your tongue can cost you your teeth."

ZIMBABWEAN CATHERINE KUMBEFU

"I have to survive first, my kids need to eat. Let me sort out the issue of food first, then maybe I can talk about voting," said Kumbefu, a 45-year-old widow in a bread line.

PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE

After voting, Mugabe said he was feeling "very fit, optimistic, upbeat."

OPPOSITION LEADER MORGAN TSVANGIRAI

"Today is not an election. Today is a shameful humiliation, another tragic day in our nation's history," said Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a message to Zimbabweans in his newsletter.

THE GROUP OF EIGHT

"We deplore the actions of the Zimbabwean authorities -- systematic violence, obstruction and intimidation -- which have made a free and fair presidential run-off election impossible," the G8 rich countries' foreign ministers said in a statement after a two-day meeting in Kyoto, Japan.

BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY DAVID MILIBAND

"There is no legitimacy for a government claiming election on the basis of today's events, because this was an election that was one-sided in every aspect," he told a news conference.

"One-sided in the brutality of the regime, one-sided in the publicity given to one side, one-sided in the electoral organization."



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