00:00 After a loss in 2018, Nelson Chamisa, the most popular opposition leader, still aims
00:08 to topple a party that's ruled Zimbabwe for over 43 years.
00:12 His run was hard.
00:13 Some hundred meetings were banned or disrupted by police, a sympathiser was killed and supporters
00:18 reported intimidation in rural areas.
00:20 "When the people were singing in the morning, everybody going to vote for Chamisa is going
00:25 to die and they're going to kill you."
00:28 "We have fear.
00:30 We can't wear these t-shirts freely."
00:32 Today President Emerson Mnangagwa is criticised much like his predecessor Robert Mugabe.
00:39 Civil society organisations in Southern Africa cite the lack of freedom.
00:43 Human Rights Watch issued a damning report in early August.
00:47 Its title "Crush them like lice", a phrase Zimbabwe's vice president has used against
00:53 the opposition.
00:54 "We thought with President Mnangagwa there would have been a new dawn, but we saw with
01:01 the violence in 2018 and the violence preceding this election that things do not seem any
01:08 brighter.
01:09 Our report concludes that the pre-election environment is not conducive for a free, fair
01:16 and impartial election as per international and regional laws and standards."
01:20 As in previous polls, the Electoral Commission is suspected of being biased.
01:25 The president nominates its members.
01:27 Civil rights groups took issue with the electoral list.
01:30 Thousands of voters with similar names.
01:32 "When we have registered voters with similar or almost similar details who purport to be
01:39 the same person, we send their details to the registrar general's office.
01:43 Sometimes it takes a little bit of time."
01:46 More than 6.5 million Zimbabweans will head to the polls in this crucial vote.
01:51 And as usual in Zimbabwe, the result will hinge on voters in rural areas.
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