I’m trying not to feel afraid as today’s sham of an election draws closer. Over the last couple of weeks stories to scare us have circulated fast, and furiously: Zanu PF youth militia stopping motorists forcing them to put up Mugabe’s election posters in their cars; pedestrians picked up off the street and forced by agents of the State to attend Mugabe rallies; groups of Zanu PF youth militia roaming the streets of Harare’s high density areas chanting and singing pro Mugabe songs in the dead of night.

Switch on your TV or your radio and you find it’s back-to-back Bob, fist pumping, spewing hatred and militancy. Drive or walk the streets and swathes of posters of a smilingly sinister Mugabe plaster walls, and every other available public space. Home owners are too afraid to remove them for fear of retribution. Even simple acts of defiance have been snuffed out.

The feeling on the street is one of confusion about this presidential run-off, which is essentially a one-dictator race, as it always has been. The Movement for Democratic Change’s (MDC) decision to withdraw from the election has caught both the Mugabe regime and the electorate by surprise. This last minute reversal by the MDC, while understandable, has left many Zimbabweans confused about what to do on Friday. Mugabe’s militia is threatening people and instilling fear to make sure that they do go to the polls. Apparently, if you’re found without a pink finger (from voting ink) you will be tormented after the election.

Yet again Zimbabweans are caught in the crossfire, damned if they do go and vote because it will be stolen, and damned if they don’t because the militia will track them down. Or so they think. We Zimbabweans are consumed by fear. We don’t realise that this regime has its limits, that it can’t kill all of us, and that the people wanting positive change in this country outnumber by millions those bent on breaking the back of democracy.

Meanwhile, here is how today’s one man election is being covered elsewhere:

Across Zimbabwe, red rags signify a nation in mourning. Red rags have been tied around lamp posts that don’t light and hung from bus shelters. Giant V-signs have been painted over the pot-holed thoroughfares. Bulawayo, the opposition stronghold, awakes today to find it has been painted red. As Zimbabweans turn out to vote in a one-man election, a final message of defiance was being daubed overnight on the only public space available to the opposition: the roads. — The Independent

Tsvangirai: vote Mugabe to stay alive. Zimbabwe’s opposition has advised its supporters to vote for Robert Mugabe for their own safety when they are herded to the polls today amid threats of violence if there is not a resounding victory for the only ruler the country has known. In a final push to intimidate voters, the ruling Zanu-PF’s militia forced people to political meetings across large parts of Zimbabwe yesterday. — Guardian

Robert Mugabe runs for president unopposed. Robert Mugabe vowed to go ahead with the presidential run-off today in the face of accusations that the vote would bestow upon him a 90 per cent mandate as meaningless as that which Saddam Hussein once enjoyed. Addressing his last rally before polls open for the surreal one-horse race, Mr Mugabe told supporters that he would be magnanimous in victory and willing to talk with the opposition. — Times Online

Intimidation tactics expected in Zimbabwe runoff. In a parking lot for buses in downtown Harare, most minivan taxis and buses were plastered with Mugabe stickers, fliers, posters and flags — put there on orders from militants, several drivers said. Ruling party pickup trucks filled with youths wearing Mugabe campaign T-shirts and scarves traversed downtown. Some shops locked down their shutters and in a district of Asian-owned stores, extra private security guards were posted. “There’s been a general mobilization of Mugabe’s people,” said one businessman who gave his name only as Mukesh. — AP

The greatest sham election in history. Today the world will witness one of the most brutal and shameful parodies of democracy to ever be enacted by a government when the Zimbabwean presidential run-off election gets under way … Some will willingly go to the polls to support him. Some will be frog- marched to cast their vote. Most will attempt to stay away from the polling stations. The outcome of this election will ring hollow throughout the world. But Mugabe will celebrate his re-election and press ahead with the wanton destruction of his country. He must be stopped. — Editorial, The Times (Johannesburg)