UNITED Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday people should respect the outcome of Zimbabwe’s general election, which delivered a narrow victory to President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF. “I think the election in Zimbabwe was very closely fought. Both parties did their best and I noticed that the opposition is happy with the result,” Annan told a news conference in Warsaw, where he is attending an international conference on democracy. “The people have spoken. We must accept their will and I rejoice with them,” Annan said. In his brief comments on the weekend vote, Annan made no reference to a campaign of violence and intimidation against the opposition which international monitors said prevented the polls from being free and fair.