Berlin - The international community condemned Zimbabwe's controversial election run-off in which President Robert Mugabe sought to extend his 28-year reign amid widespread voter intimidation prompting the opposition to withdraw from the ballot. Echoing calls for more sanctions by the United States, the European Union presidency - currently held by Slovenia - said Saturday it was considering measures against those responsible for the "tragic events" in Zimbabwe in recent months.
On Friday, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana had strongly criticized the run-off polls as a sham, saying, "Democracy has not been served by today's run-off election."
Zimbabwe's leadership is already prohibited from entering the European Union, and the bloc has also barred assets and blocked arms sales to the country.
The election run-off took place Friday in a climate of fear and harassment, which had caused the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai to pull out of the race.
The United Nations Security Council late Friday expressed its "deep regret" over the elections in Zimbabwe.
However, the council - which met behind closed doors - refrained from adopting a British proposal that would have declared the polls illegal.
The motion was blocked by South Africa, which has been reticent to use its power status in Africa to convince the leader of its neighbouring country to stop the killing and violence against his opponents, Western diplomats said.
Instead, French Ambassador to the UN Jean Maurice Ripert told reporters the council had reaffirmed last Monday's "very clear message" to Mugabe that the polls could not be free and fair in the current climate.
"Today, the government of Zimbabwe chose to ignore this message and to steal democracy," Ripert said. "This election lost all legitimacy as for the power which will come from it."
Ripert said he hoped the African Union would also be able to solve the crisis in Zimbabwe at a meeting scheduled to take place in Egypt next week which Mugabe is expected to attend.
"If not, France in liaison with its partners in the European Union, is ready to discuss extra measures in the Security Council so that Mr Mugabe listens to the voice of reason," he added.
On Friday, the polls had also been dismissed as "illegitimate" at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the world's leading economies plus Russia, the Group of Eight (G8), with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calling the polls "sham elections."
Following the polls, the US had said Friday it was considering more restrictions against Mugabe's regime and the family.
The run-off was also dismissed as a "farce" by Germany on Saturday.
"A run-off election without an opponent is a farce and incapable of providing legitimacy," said Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin.
The Southern African Development Community and some of Zimbabwe's neighbours had originally called on Mugabe to postpone the polls.
The British Independent newspaper reported that Mugabe's regime conducted a "secret war" even among the 20,000 Zimbabwean expatriates living in Britain in a bid to intimidate dissidents and block fundraising efforts on behalf of the opposition MDC.
The campaign of intimidation involved "surveillance, threats against family members in Zimbabwe, menacing late-night phone calls and bogus messages saying that fundraising activities are cancelled or disrupted," the daily reported.
An increased harassment of Zimbabweans in Britain - among them an estimated 4,000 MDC members - was confirmed by British security sources, the paper said.
On Friday, Tsvangirai had called upon his supporters to abstain from the vote and called on the international community not to recognize the outcome.
The MDC leader himself had been arrested repeatedly in the run-up to the polls and ultimately sought refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare.
The organization Human Rights Watch had reported that Mugabe-loyal youth militia had fanned out across the country in the 48 hours preceding the vote, threatening people with violence if they did not vote for Mugabe.
The president's regime is blamed for the country's economic ruin, including inflation levels of 2 million per cent according to MDC estimates and the collapse of the country's agriculture following the seizing of white-owned farms in a controversial redistribution of land ownership.
