The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Harare

Zimbabwe voted Friday in an election which was virtually certain to end in victory for President Robert Mugabe, but dismissed by the opposition as meaningless after it boycotted the poll.

Amid accusations that voters were being forced to cast their ballots for Mugabe, his long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai urged supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party not to put their lives in danger.

Mugabe was also set to be denied international legitimacy with the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations saying only a government which reflected the will of the people would be recognised. Despite state media predictions of a "massive" turnout, the number of voters queuing when polling stations opened at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) represented only a fraction of those seen in the first round which was won by Tsvangirai.

One of the first to vote was Danger Zvembabvu, a 50-year-old veteran of Zimbabwe's 1970s liberation war, but he cut a lonely figure as he waited for election officers to open the doors of a station in central Harare.

"I have been queuing since 3:00 am but I was the only one," he said.

"This is an exercise I feel I have to be part of because I love my country."

Tsvangirai said the election, which he decided to boycott after a wave of deadly attacks against his supporters, was shameful.

"Today's results will be meaningless because they do not reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe," he wrote in a letter to supporters.

"If possible, we ask you not to vote today. But if you must vote for Mr Mugabe because of threats to your life, then do so."

In some areas of the country, there were allegations officials were inspecting ballot papers before they were deposited in boxes.

A senior MDC activist in Mapanda, near the Mozambique border, said he had intended to spoil his paper but was confronted by an official from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party who demanded to see his voting slip.