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HARARE - Official results on Sunday confirmed Robert Mugabe overwhelmingly won a new term as Zimbabwe president after a one-man election widely denounced throughout the world as an illegitimate farce.
The 84-year-old leader won a total of 2,150,269 votes against 233,000 for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who boycotted the election but whose name still appeared on ballot papers.
The results mean Mugabe has, as expected, secured a sixth term as head of state in a country he has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980.
"I therefore declare the said Mugabe, Robert Gabriel, the duly elected president of the Republic of Zimbabwe," chief elections officer Lovemore Sekeramyi said.
Turnout was announced at 42.37 percent, and 131,481 ballot papers were rejected.
A hasty inauguration ceremony was set for Sunday afternoon at Mugabe's official residence, with the veteran leader then expected to leave for an African Union summit in Egypt, where his country's crisis was to feature high on the agenda.
Tsvangirai rejected an invitation to attend the inauguration, his party and a government source said.
Mugabe had been assured of a landslide victory after Tsvangirai pulled out of Friday's presidential run-off vote, citing rising violence against his supporters that he said had left nearly 90 dead and thousands injured.
Tsvangirai won the first round of the election on March 29 with 47.9 percent of the vote against 43.2 percent for Mugabe -- just short of an outright majority.
Defying international and regional calls for him to postpone the election, Mugabe pushed ahead with the vote anyway, warning against outside interference in his country's affairs and shrugging off Tsvangirai's claims of violence.
In final pre-poll rallies, he said thousands had been killed in other African countries ahead of elections but polls were held regardless. He also indicated he was open to talks with the opposition -- but only after Friday's vote.
Tsvangirai remained on the ballot despite announcing he was pulling out a week ago, with electoral commission officials saying it was too late to withdraw.
But the opposition leader did not urge supporters to cast ballots for him and even told followers to vote for Mugabe if they felt it was necessary to protect themselves.
There were widespread claims of voter intimidation, including residents being forced to polling stations and ruling party militants threatening to check people's fingers to see whether they had cast ballots.
Voters are required to dip a finger into indelible ink at polling booths.
Many Western governments denounced the vote as a sham, and a growing number of African leaders have joined in criticising Mugabe for insisting on holding a one-candidate election.
South African cleric and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu said "a very good argument can be made for having an international force to restore peace" in Zimbabwe under UN auspices.
Tsvangirai has himself called for "armed peacekeepers".
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, among the veteran leader's most vocal critics on the continent, called on the African Union to send troops into Zimbabwe and labelled Mugabe "a shame to Africa".
South African President Thabo Mbeki, the regionally appointed mediator for Zimbabwe, has worked to seek a negotiated solution in the country but has faced harsh criticism over what many see as his failure to confront Mugabe.
Tsvangirai has previously called for Mbeki to be stripped of his role as mediator and has pleaded for a widened mediation effort.
The opposition leader has sent mixed signals over his willingness to negotiate with Mugabe, at times saying he could not hold talks with an illegitimate leader.
In weekend newspaper interviews, however, he suggested the possibility of Mugabe remaining as a ceremonial head of state if an agreement on rewriting the constitution could be reached.
- AFP /ls
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