HARARE—Many Zimbabweans boycotted the one candidate-election on Friday but witnesses said government militias forced people in some areas to vote for 84-year-old President Robert Mugabe.
The vote, held despite a storm of condemnation from inside and outside Africa, was denounced as a sham by Western powers and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai, who won the first round on March 29, pulled out of the poll a week ago and took refuge in the Dutch embassy because of state-backed violence he said had killed almost 90 of his supporters. He told a news conference millions of people were staying away from the polls despite intimidation.
"What is happening today is not an election. It is an exercise in mass intimidation with people all over the country being forced to vote," Tsvangirai said.
A witness in Chitungwiza town, south of Harare, told Reuters voters were forced to hand the serial number of their ballot paper and their identity details to an official from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party so he could see how they voted. The Zimbabwe Crisis Coalition rights group said village heads had "assisted" teachers to vote in some rural areas after forcing them to declare that they were illiterate. Many teachers are accused of supporting the MDC.
Turnout was low in urban areas where Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is traditionally strong. But it was not clear how many voters went to the polls in rural districts that are difficult for independent journalists to visit.
Tsvangirai urged people to abstain but said they should vote if they were in danger.
Turnout was much lower in many areas than in parliamentary and presidential elections in March, when people queued from the early hours. Tsvangirai won that poll but fell short of the majority needed for outright victory.
Voting on Friday began at 0500 GMT and ended 12 hours later.
Zimbabwe Election
HARARE—Polling stations closed on Friday in Zimbabwe 's presidential election, in which veteran leader Robert Mugabe was the only candidate.
Polls closed at 1700 GMT after 12 hours. Early indications were that the turnout was lower than in a first round of elections on March 29, which were won by the opposition.
Sanctions
The G8 group of rich nations lambasted Zimbabwe for going ahead with the run-off and the United States said the U.N. Security Council may consider fresh sanctions next week.
Tsvangirai said pro-Mugabe militias had threatened to kill anybody abstaining or voting for the opposition.
Voters had their little finger dyed with purple ink.
"There is no doubt turnout will be very low," said Marwick Khumalo, head of monitors from the Pan African Parliament.
But state television denounced foreign media reports of low turnout. It showed long queues in a semi-rural constituency close to Harare and said voters ignored MDC appeals to abstain.
Another African election monitor, who asked not be to named, said turnout was low except in some ZANU-PF strongholds.
Mugabe voted with his wife at Highfield Township, on the outskirts of Harare. Asked how he felt, he told journalists: "Very fit, optimistic, upbeat," before being driven away.
The African Union is optimistic it can solve the Zimbabwe crisis, the organisation's top diplomat said on Friday ahead of a summit in Egypt next week likely to be dominated by the issue.
"I am convinced we will sort it out and that our credibility will be maintained," AU Commission chairman Jean Ping said during a foreign ministers meeting in Sharm el Sheikh.
Tsvangirai said he understood South African President Thabo Mbeki planned to recognise Mugabe's re-election. But he said it would be a "dream" to expect his MDC to join a national unity government with Mugabe's ZANU-PF.
Returns to Dutch Embassy
HARARE—Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai returned to the Dutch embassy in a diplomatic vehicle after addressing a media conference in the capital Harare, witnesses said.
"He is going back to the embassy," an official from Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change said. Tsvangirai took refuge in the embassy six days ago after withdrawing from a presidential election against President Robert Mugabe.
Mbeki, the designated regional mediator in Zimbabwe, has been widely criticised for a soft approach towards Mugabe despite an economic crisis that has flooded South Africa and other countries with millions of refugees.
Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu, often seen as South Africa's moral conscience, said Mbeki must join other African leaders in declaring Mugabe illegitimate if he claimed victory.
Calling Zimbabwe's crisis a "sad tragedy," Archbishop Tutu said Mbeki should admit his diplomatic approach had failed. "Everybody would support him if he now turned the screws on his colleague Mr Mugabe. I know he would be doing it reluctantly," Tutu told Reuters television.
Bread
In the affluent Greendale suburb of Harare in the morning there were scores of people queuing for bread at a shopping centre but only 10 at a polling station nearby.
"I need to get food first and then maybe I can go and vote ... I heard there could be trouble for those who don't," said Tito Kudya, an unemployed man.
Mugabe has presided over an economic collapse accompanied by hyper-inflation, 80 percent unemployment, food and fuel shortages. A loaf of bread now costs 6 billion Zimbabwe dollars, or 150 times more than at the time of the first round of elections.
A middle-aged man waiting for a bus said it was dangerous to talk about politics. "Your tongue can cost you your teeth," he told Reuters, adding that he would vote.
Analysts said Mugabe was pressing ahead with the election to try to cement his grip on power and strengthen his hand if he was forced to negotiate with Tsvangirai.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said the vote was going well. "Everything is well on course and people are voting peacefully," Deputy Chief Elections officer Utoile Silaigwana told state radio.
A security committee of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) called earlier this week for the vote to be postponed, saying Mugabe's re-election could lack legitimacy.
But Mugabe, who thrives in defiance, remained unmoved and said he would attend the AU summit to confront his opponents.
Mugabe says he is willing to sit down with the MDC but will not bow to outside pressure.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after a Group of Eight nations (G8) meeting in Japan that Washington would raise the issue of further sanctions at the U.N. Security Council. The European Commission described the run-off as "a sham".
State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters: "I think it's pretty clear to everybody that this is a sham process run by a government that will have no legitimacy."
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