Fears remain that a ground-swell of anger at the 84- year-old President and the perilous state of the once-prosperous nation, could be thwarted by a systematic campaign of election rigging and voter intimidation. Independent observers have already dismissed government insistence that the poll will be free and fair.

Armoured personnel carriers mounted with water cannons patrolled the high-density suburbs in the country’s two largest cities yesterday as security services loyal to the ageing President said they were on “high alert” and issued a stern warning that public protests would not be tolerated. The chiefs of the armed forces, police and the widely feared internal intelligence agency gathered in the capital, Harare, to say that they were “up to the task in thwarting all threats to national security” during today’s general election.