(WASHINGTON) - The United States and European Union condemned Friday's vote in Zimbabwe as a "sham" and the major powers said it would not be recognised, but Robert Mugabe's one-man election caused a split among African governments.

The UN Security Council also failed to agree on declaring Zimbabwe's runoff election illegitimate in the face of South African opposition, merely issuing an oral statement of regret.

The European Commission said the run-off election, in which Mugabe was the only candidate after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew, was devoid of validity and legitimacy.

"Today's election is a sham. The election is hollow and its result will be equally hollow and meaningless," a commission spokeswoman said.

"The European Commission, like the UN, does not consider this election legitimate or valid. The electoral process has been dominated by a systematic government-led campaign of violence and intimidation," the spokeswoman said.

The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said democracy was the loser.

"The people of Zimbabwe have been deprived of their right to vote freely and thus deprived of their dignity.

"Under these circumstances, and with the threat to regional stability posed by the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe, I trust that the relevant African authorities will draw the necessary conclusions, in the interests not only of Zimbabwe but of the whole of Africa.

"The outcome of this election cannot be regarded as legitimate."

In Kyoto, Japan, foreign ministers from the Group of Eight industrialised powers said they would not recognise a Mugabe victory.

"We will not accept the legitimacy of any government that does not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people," said Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

"There was strong, strong sentiment in that room today that what is going on in Zimbabwe is simply unacceptable in the 21st century and should not be ignored by the international community," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters.

She also called the vote a "sham" and said the United States, which chairs the UN Security Council until the end of the month, would consult about "what next step we might need to take."

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said his government would propose that European Union ambassadors pull out of Zimbabwe.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper condemned Zimbabwe's run-off vote Friday as "an ugly perversion of democracy" and said his country would "work with the international community to bring in strong measures to pressure the Mugabe regime which has illegitimately stolen the election."

The ANC, once led by South Africa's anti-apartheid legend Nelson Mandela, said that "compelling evidence of violence, intimidation and outright terror" against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and Tsvangirai had "convinced us that free and fair elections are not possible in the political environment prevalent in Zimbabwe today."

The ANC reminded Mugabe that the struggle for democratic rights was at the heart of the 1970s liberation war in the former Rhodesia which eventually led to the demise of the whites-only regime of Ian Smith and Mugabe's election as leader.

"We are, consequently, deeply dismayed by the actions of the government of Zimbabwe which is riding roughshod over the hard-won democratic rights of the people of that country," it said.

But the South Afican government of President Thabo Mbeki, whose quiet diplomacy to defuse the situation in Zimbabwe has failed, blocked Friday the adoption of a non-binding statement by the UN Security Council that would have declared that the run-off election results would have "no credibility or legitimacy."

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the aim was to send a strong message to persuade African Union (AU) leaders meeting in Egypt Monday that they need to get tough with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

But African Union foreign ministers could not agree how to handle Zimbabwe as they prepared Friday for Monday's summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping urged ministers to leave it to heads of state when they gather on Monday to pass judgment on the one-man run-off.

Ping said negotiations are still under way to form a government of national unity but gave no details on their progress.

Opponents of Mugabe held a noisy demonstration and mock election outside the country's embassy in London.

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