European diplomats were not allowe inside some polling stations during a parliamentary by-election to fill a seat left vacant after the death of Zimbabwe's vice president Simon Muzenda, a local election observer group said yesterday.

"EU diplomats were denied entry into some polling stations despite a letter from the constituency registrar saying they were allowed access," the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) chairperson Reginald Matchaba-Hove said.

The two-day by-elections in the centre-east constituency of Gutu North began on Monday.

"This is as a result of lack of information between electoral bodies," Matchaba-Hove said.

ZESN is a network of 38 non-governmental organizations, which teamed up on the eve of the 2000 parliamentary elections.

It focuses on voter education, election observation and monitoring, media monitoring and publicity and research and advocacy.

The poll is being contested by retired air marshal Josiah Tungamirai of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party of President Robert Mugabe and Crispen Musona from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Mugabe's arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai.

Some 59 390 people are eligible to vote in the Gutu by-election, but only 17 104 had voted by the end of polling on Monday, according to the state-owned Herald.

The paper said 1 451 people were turned away for either not possessing proper identity documents or because their names were missing on the voters' roll.

The MDC has alleged electoral fraud saying the ruling party had included about 7 000 people from other constituencies on the Gutu North voters' roll.

In response to opposition allegations, registrar-general and government chief coordinator of elections Tobaiwa Mudede said: "We cannot comment while the by-election is still in progress".

The MDC holds 54 of the 150 seats in parliament. – Sapa-AFP.