Monitors say impossible to observe vote

Zimbabwe election monitors said on Wednesday they could not effectively observe Friday's presidential vote because of threats to their safety.

A statement by the independent Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network said it was "gravely concerned about the safety of its observers given the deliberate targeting.ZESN is unable to fulfil its mandate to effectively observe the runoff."

ZESN said none of the 500 observers agreed to by the government had so far been accredited. This compared to 8667 deployed for the March 29 first round of the elections.