ZESN Report on the 31 July 2013 Harmonised Elections However, the issue of election observation has long been a contentious one, with local observers accused of supporting the political opposition on the basis that they are mainly funded by foreign organisations. This is ironic given that local and regional observer groups receive funding from the same source. At times these local groups are not always granted observer status. In the recent past, the requirements were that an observer had to appear in person before they could be accredited at one of only three accreditation centres in the country. This created enormous logistical and financial challenges for observer groups because they had to finance travel and accommodation for their members needing accreditation.Commendably, in 2013 accreditation was decentralised to the 10 provincial capitals, representing a great improvement on previous years and improved the organisation of observers by local groups and their processing by ZEC. It also made the organisation of observers easier and less costly for organisations deploying observers. Following negative assessments of the 2002 presidential elections by many international observer groups, especially those from Western countries, Zimbabwe has all but closed its doors to observers from Western nations, accusing them of being biased against Zimbabwe. Instead, the country has welcomed observers from SADC, the African Union and other regional bodies. In 2013, the following observer groups were exempt from paying accreditations fees:57         African Union; The Southern African Development Community (SADC); The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF); The Electoral Commissions Forum of the Southern African Development Community; The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa; African electoral bodies; Embassies in Zimbabwe representing African countries; and Any other organisation that the Commission considers should be exempt from the payment of accreditation fees. However, there was no indication of the criteria used by ZEC to determine such exemption. A week before the elections election, the ZEC reported that it had approved the accreditation of about 20,000 observers including local organisations and observers from the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the SADC 57 Statutory Instrument 89 of 2013. 57 | P a g e