ultimate command and direction of the presiding officer. This clause means that within the jurisdiction of the polling station, the presiding officer is the overall authority and even police officers should act in accordance within his directions and instructions. • The sole function of the police officers is to maintain order and prevent contraventions of the law to ensure a free and fair election. This demarcation of authority and limitation of the police authority by deferring to the presiding officer is a welcome development which reduces the risk of interference by persons outside the Commission which should be solely responsible for elections. This prevents the dilution of the Commission’s authority. • In the past, police officers even had the power s to assist voters to cast their votes where such help was needed. This was unnecessary (and potentially undue) interference by persons outside the Commission in the electoral process. The political context is such that police officers are seen as figures of authority, often-times, repressive authority which may intimidate voters, especially in remote rural areas. The distance created by this provision between the electoral process and authority exercised in that process and the police officers could potentially remove some of these barriers that affected the freeness and fairness of elections. Provision of Polling-Station Returns • Clause 20 introduces a provision requiring presiding officers at polling stations to give candidates copies of the completed polling-station returns. These polling-station returns will record details of the votes cast for each candidate and the number of spoilt ballot papers. • This is yet another measure to enhance transparency of the voting process. It means that each candidate will know details of the voting process immediately after the counting at pollingstations. • Clause 22 also reiterates the requirement for the provision by electoral officers to political parties and candidates that contested an election of all copies of their returns, i.e. polling station returns, constituency returns. The availability of all these copies will also enhance transparency 28