Ahead of that meeting, top MDC official Roy Bennett called for a campaign of passive resistance, urging people to “just bring the country to a standstill”.
Observers appeared divided over the conduct of the poll.
The African Union’s top poll observer, Olusegun Obasanjo, said shortly after polling stations closed that the election had been “peaceful, orderly, free and fair”.
The SADC stopped short of declaring it “fair” but said it was “free and peaceful”.
“We have said this election is free, indeed very free,” said top SADC election observer Bernard Membe. “We did not say it was fair we didn’t want to jump to a conclusion at this point in time.”
Membe met Mugabe Friday to “wish him good luck as he is preparing himself for the inauguration,” he told later told journalists.
He said he would try to convince Tsvangirai to concede defeat.
SADC negotiated the creation of a power sharing government in the wake of 2008’s bloody poll.
With 600 observers on the ground, its verdict and next steps will be closely watched by western nations barred from monitoring the poll themselves.
However, foreign diplomats have privately described the polls as fundamentally flawed and the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network reported up to one million voters were prevented from voting in Tsvangirai strongholds.
Ban stressed that “the concerns which have been raised about certain aspects of the electoral process should be pursued through established channels.”
“The most important thing is that the will of the people of Zimbabwe is respected.”
Even before the election was officially called for ZANU-PF, Mugabe followers were already planning how to use what could be a crushing parliamentary majority.
“The new constitution will need cleaning up,” said Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, referring to a text overwhelmingly approved by Zimbabweans in March that introduced term limits and curbed presidential powers.
Chinamasa said Mugabe’s government would also press on with controversial efforts to bring firms under black ownership.
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