Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Report — Of Stuffed ballots and Empty Stomachs This process should take no more than 30 minutes and may be observed by the candidate or his or her election agent. The procedure then to be followed is set out in the Electoral Regulations. The ballot boxes are opened and the ballots handed to the counting officers. Any spoilt papers are first set aside and the total number of votes cast at the polling station ascertained.67 The ballots are then counted by one counting officer and recounted by another. The Presiding Officer then completes the polling station return, accounting for all ballot papers used and unused, indicating the number of spoilt ballots and entering the number of votes cast for each candidate. Each candidate or his or her election agent should be shown the completed pollingstation return and invited to sign it. During this process the prescribed number of monitors and observers, and the candidate and one of his or her election agents may be present but no others.68 In view of what actually happened on the day, the next steps in the procedure are controversial. The Presiding Officer is required to personally transmit69 to the Constituency Elections Officer the polling-station return70 and immediately after arranging for the polling-station return to be transmitted, the Presiding Officer must affix a copy of the polling-station return on the outside of the polling station so that it is visible to the public. It is unfortunate that the legislation is so badly phrased. The italicised words above give rise to some ambiguity. Does “personally transmit” mean that the Presiding Officer must physically take the actual returns to the Constituency Elections Officer, or could he or she, for example, personally transmit the result by fax? If, as seems likely, the legislation intends that the Presiding Officer physically takes the return to the Constituency Elections Officer, what then is to be made of the phrase “after arranging for the polling station return to be transmitted”? The tense could imply that the affixing of the return to the outside of the polling station only takes place after the return has actually been taken to the Constituency Elections Officer. However, the tense is more likely to infer that the affixing takes place before the return is actually transmitted. But then the problem as to what is meant by “after arranging for the polling station return to be transmitted” arises once more. What arrangements are being referred to? Starting his or her car? Furthermore, until the results are affixed to the polling station, no person may communicate to any person outside the place where the votes are being counted any information relating to the results of the count or to the number of votes given to any particular candidate at that polling station. Again, it is 67 68 69 Section 8(3). Section 62 . Provision is made for a polling officer to do so if the presiding officer is incapacitated. 70 Section 64(1) of the Act. 22