Disputed Victory In Zimbabwe

President Robert Mugabe was declared the winner Wednesday of Zimbabwe's bitterly contested presidential election — a victory opponents and independent observers said was tainted by intimidation and fraud but backers saw as a mandate for seizing white-owned land.

The government said Mugabe was re-elected to a six-year term with about 56 percent of the vote. Morgan Tsvangirai, who waged the first serious challenge to Mugabe since independence from Britain, had 42 percent of the 3.1 million votes cast.

Tsvangirai denounced the results as "the biggest election fraud" he's seen. The former labor leader also charged that the election was "illegitimate in the eyes of the people."

By midnight on Wednesday, Mugabe had not made any statement or public appearance since he voted on Saturday.

Across the country, troops and police mounted road blocks and visible patrols to forestall public protest.

Riot police patrolled the poor suburb of Mabvuku, dispersing gatherings of more than three people, while a group of about 20 ruling party supporters drove around Harare singing victory songs from the back of an open truck.

The United States and several European nations said Mugabe's victory was marred by violence and intimidation.

President Bush said at a news conference that flaws in the election will prevent the United States from recognizing the government's claim that Mugabe was the winner. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a statement that the election's "numerous, profound irregularities" had thwarted the will of the people.

In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Mugadbe's ZANU-PF party had conducted "a systematic campaign of violence and intimidation designed to achieve one outcome, power at all costs. It is no surprise this outcome has now been achieved."

Most African observers said in preliminary comments that the vote was legitimate, though some added there were serious flaws in the run-up to the election.

"It is the view of the South African Observer Mission that the outcome of the 2002... elections should be considered legitimate," the South African team said in its interim report.

Mission spokesman Mbulelo Musi told CNN later, however, "...it is a legitimate process, but...there were serious flaws that might have to be looked at."

South African President Thabo Mbeki said he could not comment finally until all observer reports were in, but he promised to work with Harare for reconstruction.

Namibia called the election "watertight, without room for rigging," and Nigerian observers said they had seen nothing that threatened the integrity of the poll.

An observer team from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) called the poll "transparent, credible, free and fair."

In contrast, a southern African mission made up of 100 parliamentarians from the region said the poll fell short of regional targets agreed at a summit in Malawi in January.

"Violence was manifest in the number of hospitalized victims, numerous cases of alleged torture, arson, assault and incidences of false imprisonment," the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) said in a statement.

Independent observers from Norway, southern Africa and Zimbabwe described a complex tapestry of intimidation, unfair laws and chaotic voting procedures that tipped the poll in Mugabe's favor.

Observers said ruling party militants and security forces conducted a campaign of intimidation against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, frightening many opposition voters away from the polls.

The opposition was also hamstrung by recently passed security laws police used to cancel many opposition campaign events while allowing the government to campaign freely, observers said. Tsvangirai also had no access to state television and radio — the main source of news for most Zimbabweans — which gave strongly biased coverage.

Observers also criticized numerous irregularities with voter registration and the government's refusal to accredit thousands of local independent election observers. Many opposition party polling agents were reportedly abducted from their stations by ruling party militants or in some cases detained by police, they said.

The observers also condemned the reduction of polling stations in the nation's cities, considered opposition strongholds.

In rural areas, where people were only voting for president, there was one polling station for every 1,000 people, the Norwegian observer team said. In Harare, where residents also voted for mayor and city council, there was one station for every 5,300 registered voters.

Long lines in Harare led the High Court to extend voting for a third day Monday, but the registrar general inexplicably opened stations nearly five hours late and thousands of potential voters were chased away by riot police at closing time.

State television announced that turnout was 41.6 percent in Harare. In Mugabe's rural strongholds, the announced turnout was as high as 69 percent.

"Without the participation of the whole electorate there can be no democracy," said Reginald Matchaba-Hove, chairman of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network.

Under new, restrictive security laws, it is illegal in Zimbabwe to call a general strike. So a coalition of opposition church and civic groups, the Crisis in Zimbabwe Committee, called on Zimbabweans to protest the elections in a "constitutionally acceptable" manner Friday.

Mugabe, 78, would never allow himself to lose an election, said Lovemore Madhuku, an official with the National Constitutional Assembly, a local group opposed to Mugabe's increasingly autocratic rule.

Mugabe faced little dissent until recent years, when the nation's economy collapsed and political violence became rampant.

The United States and the European Union have imposed limited sanctions on Zimbabwe's leaders to protest the increasing lawlessness and electoral irregularities.