Zimbabweans in 'peaceful' vote on new constitution Casting their votes with their wives, both President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said they hoped that the new constitution would pave the way for a brighter future. Previously bitter rivals, they have spent the past four years in a fractious power-sharing government, which both are now keen to bring to an end with fresh elections. We want peace in the country. Peace, peace, peace. It must begin with Robert Mugabe and go on to you and everyone else," said Mr Mugabe as he voted in the Highfield township near downtown Harare. Mr Tsvangirai voted at his new wife Elizabeth's old school in Chitungwiza, a town 25 miles south of Harare, said he hoped it would bring about a new political dispensation. This is a journey that we have travelled. Those who have lost their lives will rest in peace because this is an important stage that we have been fighting for," he said. This is a journey to a free and fair election. After a delay to the process because of political wranglings over the final draft put to the vote, and a public information campaign cut short by a lack of funds, few Zimbabweans were sure of what they were voting for. Abigail Punungwe, a young mother with a baby on her back in a line at one voting station in Harare, said she hadn't read the 170-page draft constitution "but everyone is saying we must vote for it." "I think it means that we can't have another president who will be in power for 33 years," said Precious Mukadenge, 34, a mobile phone credit hawker in Harare's smartest suburb, Borrowdale. Mr Mugabe's election in 1980 brought an end to decades of British colonial rule and then white minority rule in Ian Smith's Rhodesia. He has remained in power ever since, and at 89 is now Africa's oldest leader. Over the years, he has altered Zimbabwe's current constitution, thrashed out under the Lancaster House agreement in London before his election, to give himself, his party, Zanu PF, and the security forces who have propped him up, greater powers. But he was forced into a power-sharing government after losing presidential elections to Mr Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic Change leader, in 2008. If accepted by Zimbabwe's populace as expected, the new constitution will set the stage for fresh elections in July this year to bring an end to the fractious coalition. An emotional Tendai Biti, the MDC Finance Minister arriving at the polling both this morning to cast his "yes" vote, described it as "the most important thing I have done in my adult life apart from being a parent." He said that there had been a "slow start" in some provinces but areas such as Harare, Bulawayo and Manicaland have recorded a high turn out. "We want to thank the people of Zimbabwe for understanding the historical gravity of this event," he said. Welshman Ncube, leader of MDC's smaller cousin party, the MDC-N, dismissed criticisms that the new constitution was too much of a compromise between the parties.