HARARE: Zimbabweans voted on a new constitution Saturday that would curb President Robert Mugabe's powers and pave the way for crucial elections in a country plagued by political violence.
With polls closed, counting is under way. Voters are expected to roundly back the text, which would introduce presidential term limits, beef up parliament's powers and set elections to decide whether 89-year-old Mugabe stays in power.
Mugabe has ruled uninterrupted since the country's independence in 1980, despite a series of disputed and violent polls and a severe economic crash propelled by hyper-inflation.
The draft constitution is part of an internationally backed plan to get the country on track. Zimbabweans' verdict on the draft is expected to be known within five days.
Mugabe has backed the proposed constitution, which enshrines his drive to put land in the hands of black Zimbabweans. Also, the clauses are not retroactive so he could if re-elected remain president for another 10 years.
His political rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has also lent his support to the text.
But that has not prevented the threat of violence from looming over the vote, as party militants keep one eye on the general election slated for July.
Shortly before polls opened Saturday, gunmen later identified as plainclothes police detectives seized a member of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) from his home northeast of Harare.
Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba told AFP Samson Magumura had been arrested on charges of attempted murder in connection with a recent firebomb attack that injured a Mugabe ally.
While casting his vote on Saturday, Mugabe, whom many blame for past unrest, urged Zimbabweans to ensure the referendum proceeded peacefully.
"You can't go about beating people on the streets, that's not allowed, we want peace in the country, peace, peace," he said.
Mugabe, the target of 11 years of Western sanctions over political violence and rights abuses, also used the opportunity to vow the United States and European countries would not be allowed to monitor the upcoming general election.
"The Europeans and the Americans have imposed sanctions on us and we keep them out in the same way they keep us out," he said.
Tsvangirai on Saturday expressed hope that a positive outcome would help catapult the country out of a crisis marked by bloodshed and economic meltdown.
He hoped the vote would move Zimbabwe "from a culture of impunity to a culture of constitutionalism."
Turnout, which was slow at first, picked up slightly as the day progressed, said Rita Makarau, chairwoman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, which has registered around six million eligible voters.
Minutes before the polls closed people in the Harare township of Mbare were still queing up to vote by candlelight.
Toilet rolls were improvised for candle holders as a gas lamp that was placed in the centre of a tent was insufficient to light the polling station.
Voters were handed a ballot paper in one hand and a candle in another before they disappeared behind a voting booth.
School teacher Petronella Dzikiti said she voted in favour of the new constitution, in part because it would introduce presidential term limits.
"We don't want a situation like we have today, where some of us knew one leader as a child who remains there when we are grown-ups," the 36-year-old said outside a polling station in Chitungwiza, near the capital.
<Center><b><i>Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2013</b></i></center>
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