HARARE - Polls closed on Friday in Zimbabwe's run-off election with President Robert Mugabe assured of victory after opposition leader and first round winner Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted the ballot.

Polling officers could be seen closing the doors and sealing the ballot boxes on the stroke of 7:00 pm (1700 GMT) after 12 hours of voting, AFP correspondents reported.

Mugabe's victory is seen as a foregone conclusion after Movement for Democratic Change leader Tsvangirai pulled out of the run-off last Sunday after a spate of deadly attacks on his supporters.

A spokesman for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said that counting would start immediately but the first results from the 210 constituencies were not expected to be announced until Saturday.

"The counting will start immediately after the closing of the polls at each polling station," the spokesman Utloile Silaigwana told AFP.

"We will announce the results as they come at constituency level and we hope we will start tomorrow.

"After the compilation of all constituency results we will then announce the presidential result at national level."

- AFP /ls