HARARE, March 29, 2008 (AFP) - Polls opened in Zimbabwe on Saturday at the start of joint parliamentary and presidential elections in which veteran leader Robert Mugabe is looking to secure another five years in office.

Polling booths opened at 7:00am (0500 GMT) and the 5.9 million electorate have 12 hours in which to cast their ballots.

The contest pits 84-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, against his former finance minister Simba Makoni and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

Large queues had built up outside polling booths by the time they opened, with around 300 voters ready to cast their ballots at the Courteney Selous school in the upmarket Greendale suburb of eastern Harare where Makoni is due to vote.

Mathias Chimutsi said he had arrived more than three hours before the polling station opened and intended to vote for Tsvangirai.

"I've been here since five to three this morning," said Chimutsi. "I am here to vote because my belly is empty. I am hoping that things will improve in the country."

While the security forces have been placed on full alert for fear of violence, there was little sign of a beefed-up presence of either police or soldiers on the streets.

At Greendale, the atmosphere was largely festive with some of the voters playing the board game Monopoly as they waited to enter the polling station.

The election takes place against the backdrop of an economic meltdown in the southern African country where annual inflation now stands at more than 100,000 percent and unemployment is above 80 percent.

Once the region's breadbasket, Zimbabwe now experiences previously unheard of shortages of even basic foodstuffs such as cooking oil and bread.

Up to a third of the 13 million population has moved to greener pastures, mainly in neighbouring South Africa.

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