[JURIST] International leaders and human rights groups have criticized last Friday's presidential run-off election in Zimbabwe [Harare Tribune election results], calling the elections unfair and characterizing the government of newly sworn-in president Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] as illegitimate. A committee of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) [official website], the legislative branch of the African Union, reported Monday that killings, intimidation and violence were common [report text] in the lead-up to the elections, and that the election itself had a low voter turnout and was neither transparent nor impartial. Through a spokesperson, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] indicated in a press statement [text] that the voting results "did not reflect the true and genuine will of the Zimbabwean people or produce a legitimate result." Meeting in Kyoto, Japan for the 2008 G8 Kyoto Foreign Ministers' Meeting [summit website], foreign ministers from the G8 countries issued a joint statement [text] on Zimbabwe, saying:

We deplore the actions of the Zimbabwean authorities - systematic violence, obstruction and intimidation - which have made a free and fair Presidential run-off election impossible. We strongly urge the Zimbabwean authorities to work with the opposition to achieve a prompt, peaceful resolution of the crisis in accordance with the democratic wishes of the Zimbabwean people and, for that purpose, to cooperate fully with the international efforts.