As the Zimbabwean High Court on Tuesday began to hear testimony from witnesses about bribery and terror tactics used by candidates of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party during parliamentary elections last June, heavily armed riot police ringed the courts preventing a group of about 200 chanting government supporters from gaining access, Zimbabwean news reports said on Wednesday.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) candidate Silas Matamisa who lost by 500 votes to businessman Philip Chiyangwa of ZANU-PF in the northern constituency of Chinhoyi, produced pamphlets distributed by Chiyangwa, offering concessional loans to voters. Matamisa told Judge Paddington Garwe his house was stoned and violent groups of youths prevented him from campaigning in “no go areas”. News reports quoted ZANU-PF lawyer Adam Kara as saying that the petitions were merely aimed to “harass the successful candidate and cast aspersions as to his character”.
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