Ambassador: Zimbabwe election considered 'null and void'

From CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The United States considers Friday's runoff election in Zimbabwe "null and void" and will not recognize President Robert Mugabe as the nation's legitimate leader, the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe said Tuesday.

"We look at (Mugabe's regime) as an illegitimate government" and will deal with it as such, James McGee told reporters in a telephone conference.

Although opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the runoff, McGee said the government is forcing a vote. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party "continues in full campaign mode and will force people to vote on Friday and take action against those that won't vote," he said. McGee added he believes that supporters of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party "will be massacred."