Zimbabwe votes in one-man election

Harare: Polling stations closed on Friday after Zimbabweans voted in a presidential election in which President Robert Mugabe was the only candidate.

Mugabe is the only candidate after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew six days ago because of state-backed violence and intimidation

Polls closed after 12 hours, with early indications that the turnout was lower than in a first round of elections on March 29, which were won by the opposition.

"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.

Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had urged people to abstain but said they should vote if their lives were in danger.

The Zimbabwe Crisis Coalition rights group said village heads had "assisted" teachers to vote in some rural areas. People had their finger dyed with purple ink to show they voted.

The vote has been widely condemned both inside and outside Africa.

In Brussels, the European Commission described Zimbabwe's presidential run-off as a "sham" and said it did not recognise the election or its outcome as legitimate.

"The European Commission, like the UN, does not consider this election legitimate or valid," a spokeswoman for the EU said.

"Today's election is a sham, the election is hollow and its result will be equally hollow and meaningless," she added.