•It lowered the visibility of opposition supporters and the party’s popularity; •It drained party finances through the need for security, destruction of property, and through medical and legal bills; •It prevented candidates from standing, either through intimidation or, in extreme cases, through the murder of the candidate; •It made some too scared to vote or to vote for the opposition; •It prevented polling agents or election agents from reaching polling stations or observing voting. As will be seen in what follows, many of these objectives have been achieved in the current elections without the need for violence and through more subtle mechanisms. All violate the SADC Guidelines. Before examining these mechanisms, it is worth first noting the other crucial factor behind ZANU (PF)’s 2000 and 2002 victories – electoral fraud. At present, notwithstanding some minor changes to electoral law, the same conditions are in place for the same fraudulent activities. Electoral Fraud a)Gerrymandering of Constituencies The delimitation of electoral zones is an important pre-election activity. Monitoring of the process is also an essential aspect when considering the fairness of the pre-election period. In general elections, Zimbabwe is divided into 120 constituencies9. In September 2004, for the purposes of the present election, the President appointed the Delimitation Commission, in consultation with the Judicial Services Commission as constitutionally required. The latter Commission is itself dominated by direct and indirect appointees of the President 10 . The Delimitation Commission comprised three ZANU (PF) Members of Parliament and was headed by Justice George Chiweshe. Chiweshe was appointed as a judge in early 2001. He fought in the liberation war and was also a former Judge Advocate General in the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. He is regarded by the opposition as a ZANU (PF) supporter. There was no attempt to make the Commission representative of all political voices. Accordingly, the composition of the Delimitation Commission raised concerns amongst the opposition that electoral boundaries would be altered in the ruling party’s favour. These concerns proved well founded. In its report presented towards the end of December 2004, the Delimitation Commission increased constituencies in strongholds of the ruling ZANU (PF) party and reduced the number in areas where the opposition enjoys more support. The areas of Manicaland, 9 In line with section 60 (2) of the Constitution. There are 150 seats in parliament. The President directly and indirectly appoints the remaining 30. ZANU (PF) could thus lose the contested seats, but retain a majority in parliament. They need far less than two-thirds of the contested seats to gain the two-thirds majority required to alter the National Constitution. 10 Section 84(1) of the Constitution 6