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HARARE � The African Union observer mission has added voice in condemning Friday's presidential election in which President Robert Mugabe was declared winner saying the electoral process fell short of accepted AU standards.

The mission noted the violence which preceded the run up to the presidential and parliamentary by election polls.

Former president of Sierra Leone Dr Ahmad Tejan Kabbah who headed the mission said fear of violence deterred popular participation in the electoral process despite the peaceful environment that prevailed on the polling day.

The AU interim statement was rather lukewarm and did not out rightly lambast unfair conditions that worked against the opposition resulting in the withdrawal of its candidate Morgan Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai's withdrawal was noted as a concern by the AU mission but did not elaborate on the concerns of the opposition.

"The African Union Mission noted with concern the withdrawal of the MDC candidate on the 22^nd of June 2008. This unexpected development led the AU mission to undertake a number of contacts with the judiciary authorities of Zimbabwe to seek clarification of the legal implications of the withdrawal," Dr Kabbah said.

On affording equal access to the media, the mission confirmed lack of equal access to the public media.

The opposition was not given any access to the public media and only appeared in bad light to prop up the image of the ruling party ZANU PF.

The chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Uganda Dr Bachu Kiggundu who was part of the AU delegation told journalists that the election process was not free of violence in the run up to the polling day.

"An election process should be free of violence not only on polling day but throughout the preceding period. Your country (Zimbabwe) fell short of the requirements," Dr Kiggundu said.

On a sad note, a member of the AU mission Beranu Abebe from Ethiopia collapsed on Monday morning and died upon admission to hospital.