Counting under way in Zimbabwe election At many stations voters started queuing before sunrise in the winter cold hours before polls opened. The lines continued well into the evening, with many marking their ballots by candle light. Organisers said voters still waiting at closing time would get their chance to vote. Mr Mugabe voted before lunchtime in a Harare suburb, where he insisted the poll would reflect the will of the people. "I am sure people will vote freely and fairly, there is no pressure being exerted on anyone," he said. The one-time teacher came to prominence as a hero of Africa's liberation movement, guiding Zimbabwe to independence from Britain and white minority rule. But his military-backed rule has been marked by a series of violent crackdowns, economic crises and suspect elections that have brought international sanctions and made him a pariah in the West. On Tuesday he vowed to step down if Mr Tsvangirai is the victor. "If you lose you must surrender," he said, insisting: "We have done no cheating." Mr Tsvangirai, the current prime minister, said that promise should be taken "with a pinch of salt." Mr Tsvangirai won the first round of voting in 2008, but was forced out of the race after 200 of his supporters were killed and thousands more injured in suspected state-backed attacks. But the 61-year-old former union boss has repeatedly voiced concerns that the election is being rigged. Mr Tsvangirai's party on Wednesday listed a battery of alleged irregularities including thousands of voters finding their names missing from the electoral roll. "Thousands and thousands of people are being disenfranchised," said Finance Minister Tendai Biti, a senior member of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change. Biti, speaking after a meeting with the electoral commission, added: "They are admitting that there's still two million people who are dead on the voters' roll, but they said 'because they're dead, they can't vote'." The MDC had on Tuesday handed what it claimed was documentary evidence of duplicate and ghost voters to observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC). With no Western groups allowed to cover the presidential and parliamentary poll, SADC's account of events will be closely watched. The African Union, which has been accused of whitewashing problems in the run up to the vote, said initial reports indicated it was "peaceful, orderly, free and fair." Police warned that anyone trying to release unofficial results ahead of the official figures risked being arrested. On Sunday Mr Mugabe had threatened to arrest Mr Tsvangirai if he tried to declare an early victory. Some 6.4 million people, around half of the population, are eligible to vote. A candidate needs 50 per cent of the vote to avoid a run-off. The final results are expected within five days.