Washington - The United States said there were "serious
questions" over Zimbabwe's election results, which were released on
Friday more than one month after presidential elections were held.

Zimbabwe's Election Commission said a run-off election would be
needed between long-time President Robert Mugabe and his main
challenger Morgan Tsvangirai, whose party has already rejected the
results.

US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the final result had
"rather serious credibility problems, given the inexplicably long
delays and some of the post-election irregularities that have
occurred."

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change accuses Mugabe
supporters of rigging the vote and launching a campaign of intimidation
and violence since the March 29 elections.

The commission said Tsvangirai won 47.9 per cent of the vote to Mugabe's 43.2 per cent, not enough to avoid a run-off.

Casey said it would be "impossible" for Zimbabwe to hold another election given the harassment of opposition leaders.

The government should "cease the kinds of action it's been taking
against the opposition before anyone should even think or be able to
talk about any kind of run-off election," Casey said. (dpa)