* Militias force people to vote-witnesses, monitors

* Low urban turnout

* African Union optimistic

* Tutu calls on Mbeki to declare Mugabe illegitimate

By Cris Chinaka

HARARE, June 27 (Reuters) - Many Zimbabweans boycotted their one candidate-election on Friday, but witnesses and monitors said government militias forced people to vote for 84-year-old President Robert Mugabe in some areas.

The vote, held despite a storm of condemnation from inside and outside Africa, was denounced as a sham by Western powers and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai, who won the first round on March 29, pulled out of the poll a week ago and took refuge in the Dutch embassy because of state-backed violence he said had killed almost 90 of his supporters. He told a news conference millions of people were staying away from the polls despite intimidation.

"What is happening today is not an election. It is an exercise in mass intimidation with people all over the country being forced to vote," Tsvangirai said.

A witness in Chitungwiza town, south of Harare, told Reuters voters were forced to hand the serial number of their ballot paper and their identity details to an official from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party so he could see how they voted. The Zimbabwe Crisis Coalition rights group said village heads had "assisted" teachers to vote in some rural areas after forcing them to declare they were illiterate.

Turnout was low in urban areas where Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is traditionally strong. But it was not clear how many voters went to the polls in rural districts that are difficult for independent journalists to visit.

State television denounced foreign media reports of low turnout. It showed long queues in rural and semi-rural constituencies and said voters ignored appeals to abstain. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a monitoring group, said its observers reported that traditional leaders forced people to vote in most rural areas. It said the poll would not reflect the will of the people.

ZESN also reported militias and traditional leaders were noting the names of voters and asking for the serial numbers of their ballot papers as they left polling stations.

ZESN said before the vote it could not deploy properly because of intimidation of its monitors.

Tsvangirai had urged people to abstain but said they should vote if they were in danger.

Turnout was much lower in many areas than in parliamentary and presidential elections in March, when people queued from the early hours. Tsvangirai won that poll but fell short of the majority needed for outright victory.

SANCTIONS

The G8 group of rich nations lambasted Zimbabwe for going ahead with the run-off and the United States said the U.N. Security Council may consider fresh sanctions next week.

Tsvangirai said pro-Mugabe militias had threatened to kill anybody abstaining or voting for the opposition.

Voters had their little finger dyed with purple ink.

"There is no doubt turnout will be very low," said Marwick Khumalo, head of monitors from the Pan African Parliament.

Another African election monitor, who asked not be to named, said turnout was low except in some ZANU-PF strongholds.

Mugabe voted with his wife at Highfield Township, on the outskirts of Harare. Asked how he felt, he told journalists: "Very fit, optimistic, upbeat," before being driven away.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced late on Friday that counting of the ballots had started. It was unclear how long it would take for results to be issued.

The African Union is optimistic it can solve the Zimbabwe crisis. "I am convinced we will sort it out and that our credibility will be maintained," AU Commission chairman Jean Ping said during a foreign ministers meeting in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, ahead of an AU summit next week.

Tsvangirai said he understood South African President Thabo Mbeki planned to recognise Mugabe's re-election. But he said it would be a "dream" to expect his MDC to join a national unity government with Mugabe's ZANU-PF.

Mbeki, the designated regional mediator in Zimbabwe, has been widely criticised for a soft approach towards Mugabe despite an economic crisis that has flooded South Africa and other countries with millions of refugees.

Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu, often seen as South Africa's moral conscience, said the world had the right to override Zimbabwe's sovereignty to intervene in its crisis and should consider banning flights to the nation.

Tutu told Britain's Channel 4 television that the "international community has the right now to override the sovereignty argument of the country." He added that African leaders should declare Mugabe's government illegitimate.

BREAD

In the affluent Greendale suburb of Harare in the morning there were scores of people queuing for bread at a shopping centre but only 10 at a polling station nearby.

"I need to get food first and then maybe I can go and vote ... I heard there could be trouble for those who don't," said Tito Kudya, an unemployed man.

Mugabe has presided over an economic collapse accompanied by hyper-inflation, 80 percent unemployment, food and fuel shortages. A loaf of bread costs 6 billion Zimbabwe dollars, or 150 times more than at the time of the first round of elections.

A middle-aged man waiting for a bus said it was dangerous to talk about politics. "Your tongue can cost you your teeth," he told Reuters, adding that he would vote.

Analysts said Mugabe was pressing ahead with the election to try to cement his grip on power and strengthen his hand if he was forced to negotiate with Tsvangirai.

A security committee of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) called earlier this week for the vote to be postponed, saying Mugabe's re-election could lack legitimacy.

But Mugabe, who thrives on defiance, remained unmoved and said he would attend an AU summit to confront his opponents.

Mugabe says he is willing to sit down with the MDC but will not bow to outside pressure.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Japan that Washington would raise the issue of further sanctions at the U.N. Security Council. The European Commission described the run-off as "a sham". (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Nelson Banya in Harare, John Chalmers in Tokyo, Dan Wallis in Sharm el-Sheikh, Marius Bosch and Michael Georgy in Johannesburg; Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Paul Simao and Muchena Zigomo)

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