Rhodesia looks to 60p.c. poll despite some attacks

Press, 20 April 1979, Page 5

Rhodesia looks to 60p.c. poll despite some attacks

NZPA-Reuter Salisbury

Rhodesia’s first one-man, one-vote elections entered their third day today with about two fifths of the total possible votes cast despite pledges by black nationalist guerrillas to disrupt the poll. The country’s 2.8 M black voters and 140,000 eligible whites have until Saturday to vote, and Government officials predicted a final turnout of at least 60 per cent.

Many observers attributed the first day’s poll of more than 700,000 — about 25 per cent — to early enthusiasm and expected daily figures to drop drastically. Voting slowed on the second day, and when figures for the first two days are computed they are expected to show a turnout so far of about 40 per cent. The Government needs a

high turnout to prove its claims to enjoy the support of the mass of Rhodesian people in the war against the Patriotic Front guerrillas. Unless a large number of ballots are being spoiled, the Government may get what it wants. Some observers have predicted a total poll of 70 per cent.

But voting in some areas —Melsetter, Buhera, and Maranke in the east and Plumtree in the south—has been slow because of the influence of the Patriotic Front guerrillas. They have labelled blacks contesting the elections as sell-outs and by the end of the first day of voting on Tuesday guerrilla groups had attacked 11 rural voting points out of a total of 686, according to a police spokesman. No casualties were reported.

In one eastern district, re-

porters were told that tribespeople were helping guerrillas dig holes in roads to prevent voters getting to the polls. Many rural villagers who voted, however, said they did not understand who to vote for but did as they were told by the various political parties.

One old man told reporters he had voted for the sign of the bovine beast — the symbol of the United National Federal Party — because he lived in cattle country. But he said he knew nothing about what the party stood for.

The Registrar-General (Mr Eric Pope-Simmonds) told a news conference in most areas the electorate had been cheerful and enthusiastic about the polling. “But we must accept in a

! minimum of districts some | reservations and certainly a ; reticence towards voting,’’ he said. [ Most of the foreign observers who came to Rhodesia to w’atch the polling! have told reporters they are impressed by rhe conduct of the election.

In the areas where guerrilla influence is strong, the Government has herded thousands of tribespeople into villages surrounded by wire fences to deny the guerrillas food and shelter. It has also closed maize mills and imposed long curfews — in Maranke for example extending for 22 hours a day. Nationalist Party sources said resentment at this treatment was bound to be affecting the voting. Only 64 people in Maranke had voted on the first day out of a possible 5000.