Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe led his ruling party into elections yesterday against a weakened opposition but in the face of relentless international criticism that he has hijacked democracy to stay in power. Hundreds of voters braved early morning drizzle to queue hours before voting started at some stations. Polls opened in the capital Harare on time at 7 a.m.

?We have come to make a statement,? said one young man, grinning as he headed towards a polling station in the city. There was no visible police presence in the centre of Harare but witnesses said there were some patrols in outlying townships where there have been anti-government protests in the past. Veteran Mugabe, 81, told loyalists of his ZANU-PF party on Wednesday that the poll would be fair and urged voters to reject the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which he calls a puppet of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

ZANU-PF is widely tipped to win the parliamentary poll. The MDC, despite crying foul even before polls opened, put on a brave face. ?The MDC is confident of victory,? MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube said in a statement on Wednesday. ?The people are behind us. If the MDC does win the election it will be because the will of the people will have prevailed over attempts by Mugabe and ZANU-PF to rig the ballot.?

Economic collapse

Nevertheless, the MDC, cowed by government pressure, appears weaker than in the last two elections, when it came close to achieving shock victories. The MDC and Western observers said both those votes were rigged. Thursday?s election has already been branded unfair by both the United States and the European Union. The EU blasted the polls as ?phoney? and warned it would take unspecified steps against Zimbabwe after the election.

Mugabe says Washington and European governments led by former colonial power Britain want to topple him because of his seizure of white-owned land for landless black Zimbabweans.

Critics blame the land seizures, which began in 2000, for ruining the commercial farming industry, leaving the once prosperous country short of food and triggering a wider economic collapse that has seen inflation and unemployment skyrocket. Mugabe, who has led the former Rhodesia since independence in 1980, denies his mismanagement is to blame and accuses Western and domestic opponents of conspiring to sabotage the economy. On Thursday he defended the land redistribution programme, telling supporters at his closing rally: ?We are not anti-white, but we are anti-racism.?

A clear victory would keep ZANU-PF firmly in control as its ageing leader approaches planned retirement in 2008. The party hopes to win back urban voters who rejected it in parliamentary and presidential votes in 2000 and 2002, while the opposition MDC, which emerged from urban trade unions, has tried to broaden its support in rural districts.

Mugabe has come under regional pressure to abide by new election standards adopted last year by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and although the MDC says Zimbabwe falls far short of full compliance, the opposition party says violence this time is much reduced compared to 2000 and 2002. Results are expected within 48 hours of polls closing.

Cris CHINAKA

CHRONOLOGY

Key dates in recent political crisis

? 1998 - An economic crisis marked by high interest rates and inflation provokes riots and massive support for the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions headed by Morgan Tsvangirai.

? 1999 - The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is formed and Tsvangirai is appointed leader.

? 2000 - Mugabe gets taste of electoral defeat when voters

back the MDC and turn down a proposed constitutional amendment which would give the president more power. Mugabe?s ruling ZANU-PF goes on to win parliamentary polls amid charges of fraud and vote-rigging by the opposition. Thousands of so-called independence war veterans, backed by the government, seize white-owned farms, saying the land was illegally seized by white settlers.

? 2001 - Government agrees to stop often violent land invasions in exchange for British funds to finance land reform. Mugabe later rejects criticism he has ignored the deal. More farms are taken over.

? 2002 - Mugabe wins six-year term in election pitting him against Tsvangirai. Observers condemn poll as flawed and unfair. Commonwealth suspends Zimbabwe, while European Union imposes travel sanctions, freezes assets of Mugabe?s associates. Collapse of commercial agriculture and poor weather contribute to serious food shortages, leaving an estimated half of Zimbabwe?s 14 million people in need of emergency food aid.

? 2003 - Police close Zimbabwe?s largest private daily newspaper, Daily News, charging it with violating strict new media laws. Zimbabwe?s main trade union leaders and dozens of rights activists are arrested in November. The IMF begins steps to expel Zimbabwe from the fund over dues unpaid since 2001. Commonwealth agrees at summit in Abuja to continue suspension, leading Mugabe to pull Zimbabwe out of the organisation.

? 2004 - Inflation hits a record 622 percent in January as food, fuel and foreign exchange shortages persist. The EU renews sanctions against Mugabe and his inner circle in February.In October High Court acquits Tsvangirai of plotting to assassinate Mugabe and seize power, a ruling immediately condemned by the government.

?2005 - Mugabe appoints electoral commission in January to run March 31 parliamentary polls under a law which the opposition says does not guarantee a free and fair vote. MDC in February lifts a threat to boycott the election, saying it would take part though conditions were skewed in favour of the ruling party. Mugabe launches ZANU-PF campaign in March, saying there is no room for Western ?puppets? in the capital?s halls of power. Voters cast ballots on March 31 in parliamentary elections to select 120 seats in the 150-member assembly. The ruling party is assured 30 seats which will not be selected by voters.