ELECTORAL (ACCREDITATION OF OBSERVERS) REGULATIONS, 2013 4. Accreditation of independent commissions and other state institutions (1) Any independent Commission established by the Constitution of Zimbabwe may apply for accreditation of their Commissioners and their secretariat staff as observers. (2) Any statutory body may apply for accreditation of the members of their governing boards and their secretariat staff as observers 5. Accreditation of members of foreign Embassies based in Zimbabwe A foreign embassy may make application on behalf of its diplomatic staff or other nationals of its country to be accredited as observers, not exceeding five such persons who hold valid permits from the Department of Immigration. 6. Accreditation fees (1) Observers from the following organizations and institutions will be exempt from the payment of accreditation fees— (a) the African Union; (b) the Southern African Development Community; (c) the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum; (d) the Electoral Commissions Forum of the Southern African Development Community; (e) the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa; (f) electoral bodies in Africa performing functions similar to the Commission; (g) embassies in Zimbabwe representing countries in Africa. (h) any other organization that the Commission considers should be exempt from the payment of accreditation fees. (2) The accreditation fee to be paid for accreditation— (a) for a local observer will be ten United States dollars; (b) for an observer invited from any country on the continent of Africa other than from the organisations specified in subsection (1), will be twenty United States dollars payable in cash; (c) for embassies in Zimbabwe representing countries outside Africa fifty United State dollars payable in cash; (d) by an observer from a country outside Africa will be one hundred United States dollars payable in cash; (e) media practitioners who are Zimbabwean citizens but who are working for foreign media houses will be fifty United States dollars payable in cash; (f) local media practitioners who are accredited with the Zimbabwe Media Commission will be ten United States dollars payable in cash. 7. Numbers of observers allowed inside polling stations and collation centres (1) Not more than six observers, or, if there are more than six observers wishing to observe inside a polling station or collation centre, not more than six observers representing different observer groups, may be present at once inside a polling station or a collation centre. (2) If there are more than six observers wishing to observe inside a polling station or collation centre, the polling officer must arrange for those observers outside the station to rotate with those inside at fixed intervals. (3) For the avoidance of doubt, it is declared that the absence of observers at the voting, counting of ballots or the collation of votes or during any other process in connection with the election at which they are entitled to be present must not delay the voting, collation or other process concerned. 8. Numbers of accredited media practitioners allowed inside polling stations and collation centres Accredited media practitioners will be entitled to enter polling stations and collation centres but the presiding officer officers at polling stations and collation centres will have the power to control the numbers of media practitioners present in a polling station or collation centre at the same time in order to avoid congestion inside the polling station or collation centre. 9. Conduct of observers and accredited media practitioners inside polling stations and collation centres (1) On entering a polling station or collation centre an observer must exhibit to the presiding officer his or her accreditation certificate and sign the attendance register. (2) Accredited observers must abide by the provisions of the Code of Conduct contained in the First Schedule to the Act. (3) No accredited observer and, subject to subsection (4), no accredited media practitioner may make use of a mobile phone for telephonic communication or use a mobile phone camera or other camera to take photographs or make kinetic images inside a polling station. (4) The presiding officer may allow accredited media practitioners to take photographs and make kinetic images inside the polling station or collation centre, but the media practitioners must not interfere with or obstruct 41