However, the statements by members of the Mugabe government show that it may only allow in foreign observers who are likely to be biased in favour of the ruling party and whom the ruling party thinks will endorse the elections if the ruling party wins even if there is clear evidence of gross electoral irregularities. In February President Mugabe and the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs publicly stated that observers from “unfriendly” countries would not be allowed in. In early March the Foreign Minister announced that “those who believe that the only free and fair election is where the opposition wins, have been excluded since the ruling party, ZANU PF, is poised to score yet another triumph." He said that European Union member states, the United States and the Commonwealth would not be permitted to observe the elections. The only observers that would be invited would be from the African Union, SADC and countries that were allies of the ruling party such as such as China, Iran, Venezuela and Russia. Because the government has cherry picked observers and has severely restricted the numbers of invitees, it is imperative that SADC observers perform their duties meticulously and impartially. This is particularly important given the fact that the SADC mediation was intended to ensure that elections would be free and fair so that the results would not be contentious. The SADC team must therefore fully test whether this objective has been observed. They should not limit their scrutiny to what has happened in the last few days before the elections but should examine the freeness and fairness of the conditions prevailing in the lead up period to the election. The exclusion of many foreign observer groups will mean that those allowed in will have great difficulty in conducting comprehensive monitoring during polling, especially in remote rural areas where the scope for irregularities will be most pronounced. It will be a tall order to monitor polling at some 11 000 polling stations all around the country. As regards local observers, one of the important local NGOs with extensive experience in monitoring elections, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network has applied to the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to be accredited to observer the elections but as at 12 March it had still not received any response to its application. ZEC has indicated that it will only accredit journalists to give them official status to cover the elections if they are first accredited by the regulatory body under AIPPA. The problem is that it is impossible presently for journalists to obtain accreditation under AIPPA as the old regulatory body is supposed to have been replaced by a new body but this has not yet been done. The old body has no legal power to accredit journalists and the new body is not yet in existence. This 18