Zimbabwe Vote Tests Long Rule of Mugabe HARARE, Zimbabwe - Thousands of Zimbabweans went to the polls Wednesday in what many here are calling the most pivotal election since Zimbabwe voted out white rule in 1980. Despite frigid predawn temperatures, people lined up before the polling stations opened, eager to cast their votes. In Harare, the capital, there was none of the violence and intimidation that characterized the disastrous 2008 presidential election season. "This is a huge change, the fact that people can stand around and talk openly about their views," said Namo Mariga, an agribusiness entrepreneur, after casting his ballot in the upscale suburb of Borrowdale. The atmosphere is much freer. The election pits Robert G. Mugabe, 89, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 33 years, against the former union organizer Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change. Mr. Tsvangirai won the most votes in the first round of the presidential election in 2008 but refused to participate in a runoff because of crackdowns on his supporters that left 200 people dead. A deal brokered by regional powers put the two rivals into an uneasy power-sharing agreement and both are seeking an outright victory to govern alone. "It is quite an emotional moment sometimes when you see all these people after all the conflict, the stalemate, the suspicion, the hostility," Mr. Tsvangirai said after casting his ballot. I think there is a sense of calmness that finally Zimbabwe will be able to move on again. Sporadic problems were reported in a number of regions. Lines were long in urban areas, raising concerns that not everyone would be able to vote on Wednesday. The challengers said the Zimbabwe Election Commission had deliberately reduced the number of polling stations in their strongholds to discourage voters, but the commission denied this. Some voters who registered recently found that their names were not on the rolls, but they were able to cast ballots using the registration receipt. "We've already made clear this election is illegal, illegitimate, unfree and unfair," said Tendai Biti, the M.D.C. secretary general, said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon. We are participating with a heavy heart. The planning for the election has been chaotic and rushed because Mr. Mugabe unilaterally set a much earlier election date than other political parties had anticipated. Mr. Mugabe, after casting his ballot, appeared confident of victory in remarks to reporters. Asked if he would serve a full five year term, he said, "Why not? Why should I field myself if it's to cheat the people and I resign after? Fears of rigging remained high. Neil Padmore, 35, brought his own pen to the polling station because he had heard that the government's pens used special ink that would disappear a few hours after the ballot was cast. "I am hoping that the sheer volume of the voters will prevent them from rigging," said Mr. Padmore, who runs a company that lays fiber optic cable. We need change in Zimbabwe. We can't have this draconian environment. But some voters said that Mr. Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, deserved to stay in power because they put Zimbabwe's agricultural land, long controlled by a few thousand white commercial farmers, into the hands of black people through seizures. Amina, a 26-year-old clothing trader who lives in Mbare and asked that only her first name be used, said that her brother was given a farm by the government and has prospered. "He's getting rich by the season," she said. Her father had fought in Mr. Mugabe's insurgent army in the 1970s and lost a leg to a bomb. Mr. Mugabe, she said, had made black people masters of their own destiny. "He always told us the main grievance for the war was that we needed land," she said. They wanted to be masters of their own country. Mr. Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since the end of white domination in 1980, retains his iron grip on the country's feared security apparatus. When Mr. Tsvangirai's party tried to import motorcycles to register voters across vast distances, the government impounded them, forcing the challengers to use bicycles instead. After more than 30 years at the nation's helm, Mr. Mugabe said he was still the best option for the country.