Johannesburg/Harare  - State media in Zimbabwe Saturday reported a "massive voter turnout" in Friday's controversial one-man presidential election that only President Robert Mugabe contested, despite reports of low participation in a vote widely slammed as a farce.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper said a "massive voter turnout (was) recorded in most parts of the country" and that the vote, which was boycotted by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, took place in a climate of "peace and tranquility."

An African election observer and witnesses had reported a low turnout in urban areas but a stronger showing in rural areas where Tsvangirai accused security forces and Mugabe party militia of "frogmarching" people to the polls.

Human Rights Watch and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change had reported the use of various tactics to pressure people into voting, including warning them their fingers would be checked for voting ink.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said it would begin releasing the results of the non-contest Saturday but the final result was only expected by Sunday.

Following the last presidential elections in March, in which Tsvangirai topped the poll and Mugabe trailed in second place, ZEC withheld the results for five weeks.

Friday's election was branded a "sham" by the MDC, the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations and the European Union but the United Nations Security Council expressed only "deep regret" that Mugabe had gone through with the farcical vote.

The 15 members of the council, the UN's highest decision-making body, had been unable to agree on declaring the vote illegal but had agreed to revisit the matter "in the coming days", the French ambassador to the UN, Jean Maurice Ripert, told reporters.

South Africa, whose President Thabo Mbeki is mediating in Zimbabwe on behalf of southern Africa, blocked the motion, Western diplomats said.

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US would be seeking a a UN Security Council resolution next week to send a "strong message of deterrence" to Mugabe.

Ripert said France would also be seeking Security Council action on Zimbabwe, working in concert with other European countries. (dpa)