US concerned over Zimbabwe's election

The US Saturday voiced its concern over Zimbabwe's recent elections, saying the government failed to implement political reforms in accordance with its own constitution. State Department Secretary John Kerry urged the South African Development Community and the African Union to address concerns on Zimbabwe's voting process, he called "deeply flawed. "There were irregularities in the provision and composition of the voters roll. The parties had unequal access to state media. The security sector did not safeguard the electoral process on an even-handed basis. And the government failed to implement the political reforms mandated by Zimbabwe's new constitution, the Global Political Agreement, and the region," Kerry said in a statement. Mugabe won his seventh term with 61 percent of the vote, against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's 34 percent. Kerry said the elections had been an opportunity for Zimbabwe to move forward on a democratic path and provide a foundation for growth and prosperity, but it cited "substantial electoral irregularities reported by domestic and regional observers. "Though the United States was restricted from monitoring these elections, the balance of evidence indicates that today's announcement was the culmination of a deeply flawed process," he said.