Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Report — Of Stuffed ballots and Empty Stomachs unclear whether any information relating to the results of the count includes the number of people who have voted, rather than the result. These provisions were contravened in several ways. It appears that the police officers present at the polling stations were under instructions to radio through voting numbers throughout the day including a final figure shortly after 7.00 p.m. when polling closed. They also radioed through the result of the count as soon as it was known.71 The results appear to have been conveyed in this manner to a body called the National Elections Logistics Command Centre of which the Commissioner of Police72 and the Registrar-General were a part. Several elections agents were either not invited to sign the return or not shown the return at all. Then, at many polling stations, the return was not posted outside. Instead, all present at the count (apart from the police) were locked into the polling station and held incommunicado after being compelled to surrender their cell phones, while the Presiding Officer set off to transmit the return to the Constituency Elections Officer. The results were not then posted at the polling station until the Presiding Officers had handed the results to the Constituency Elections Officer. However, in some instances the results were not posted at all, or were posted inside the polling station rather than on the outside. Posting the electoral votes at the polling station immediately after voting is an internationally recognised means to limit the possibility of the Constituency Elections Officer receiving forged or altered results. More egregiously, at some polling stations orders were given to the Presiding Officers by police radio not to commence counting the vote, or to stop the counting in progress until further instructions were given. In at least one instance that instruction came as late as 2.00 a.m. the following morning. As a result, despite the fact that each polling station rarely had more than 1000 votes to count, and generally less than 500, with polling having closed at 7.00 p.m. on Thursday 31st March the final tally for the country was still not known by late on Friday 1st March. A second major and well-publicised anomaly arose from the announcement of voting statistics by the State controlled media. Between midnight and 1.00 a.m. on 1 April 2005 the Chief Elections Officer announced the number of people who had voted in constituencies in 6 of the 10 provinces. He indicated that the figures represented the situation at 7.30 p.m. and that the figures for the constituencies in the remaining provinces would be announced later. The figures for 72 constituencies were released, when the announcements abruptly ended without explanation. When the final results were announced, the total number of apparent votes for 71 72 See for example the Affidavit of Claudius Marimo para 19. The Commissioner of Police is a self-professed ZANU(PF) supporter. 23