Zimbabweans Living Abroad Return Home to Vote
July 29,2013
Zimbabwe is holding a national poll Wednesday for some 6 million voters in the Southern African nation. But millions of Zimbabweans live outside of their country, according to UN estimates, and the majority are not fans of the current regime. The government has said it can’t afford to extend them overseas voting rights, though critics say that is an attempt to shut out the opposition. In the immigrant hub of Johannesburg, the opposition is helping Zimbabweans return home to vote.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration says some two to three million Zimbabweans live in South Africa.
Many say they fled because of the regime of President Robert Mugabe. Large numbers have settled in inner-city Johannesburg.
And many of them say they want in on the July 31 election and are prepared to risk a costly, long and possibly dangerous trip home.
Rights groups frequently accuse Mugabe’s security forces of intimidating and attacking opposition supporters.
Some of these voters say they are making the trip in the hopes their vote can kick Mugabe out of office after more than three decades in power.
Mugabe’s main challenger is long-time rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change. The two have run against each other for the last three elections, and were forced into a power-sharing coalition after the violent 2008 poll.
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