HARARE, Zimbabwe As President Robert Mugabe defied intensifying international condemnation to insist that Friday’s presidential runoff would proceed, a picture was emerging on Thursday of the circumstances under which Zimbabweans would be forced to go to the polls, and what they might face if they resisted.

Voting is set to begin at 7 a.m.. Zimbabweans expect to be rounded up and taken to the polls. If they are unable to read or do not understand how to vote, according to a journalist in the state-owned news media, they will be “assisted” by a police officer who has already voted publicly in front of a senior officer, as apparently all members of the armed forces are required to do.

Citizens of voting age without an inked finger, which indicates that they have voted, will be regarded as traitors and subject to reprisals, the journalist said.

The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, told the BBC on Thursday, “There could be a massive turnout not because of the will of the people, but because of the role of the military and the role of traditionally people being forced to the polls.”