ZIMBABWEANS voted in a one-candidate presidential election today, as Foreign Secretary David Miliband joined international condemnation of the "sham" poll.
Widespread violent intimidation was reported across the country, with voters being forced to back Robert Mugabe in the run-off following March's disputed Presidential election.
Despite withdrawing at the weekend in protest at a brutal campaign aga
inst his supporters, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's name remained on the ballot paper.
Foreign ministers from the world's richest countries, including Mr Miliband, accused Mugabe's regime of "systematic violence, obstruction and intimidation".
Movement for Democratic Change leader Mr Tsvangirai said the ballot had become "an exercise in mass intimidation, with people all over the country being force to vote".
He advised his supporters to vote for Mr Mugabe rather than risk further violence at the hands of the president's Zanu-PF supporters."It makes no difference because the vote is a fraud anyway."
In a statement issued at the close of a two-day meeting in Kyoto, Japan, G8 foreign ministers said: "We deplore the actions of the Zimbabwean authorities – systematic violence, obstruction and intimidation – which have made a free and fair presidential run-off election impossible.
"We strongly urge the Zimbabwean authorities to work with the opposition to achieve a prompt, peaceful resolution of the crisis in accordance with the democratic wishes of the Zimbabwean people. We will not accept the legitimacy of any government that does not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people."
Mr Miliband said: "There is no legitimacy for a Government claiming election on the basis of today's events."
Campaigners in the UK marked the election by carrying a ballot box in the shape of a coffin, symbolising the death of democracy in Zimbabwe, through central London.
Members of the Zimbabwe Vigil Coalition walked from the Zimbabwe embassy to the South African High Commission led by a couple dressed as Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace.
Mr Mugabe's hopes for a large turn-out to bolster his increasingly precarious position looked set to be disappointed despite the reported intimidation by armed gangs.
But the 84-year-old dictator is looking increasing isolated internationally.
Earlier this week Africa's most revered political figure – ex-South African president Nelson Mandela – finally broke his long silence on the issue to denounce Mr Mugabe's failure of leadership.
Britain has been leading calls for tighter sanctions against what Prime Minister Gordon Brown has described as the "criminal cabal" who make up Mr Mugabe's regime.
This week the UK finally stripped Mr Mugabe of the honorary knighthood that he was awarded 1994 while the Government announced that it was banning next year's planned Zimbabwe cricket tour.
In an indication of Washington's attitude to the Mugabe regime, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the run-off a "sham" that "could not possibly produce a legitimate outcome".
The US would raise possible sanctions with other members of the UN Security Council, she said.
The full article contains 498 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
