13 Vicious attacks are known to have been made upon opposition supporters in all provinces and these continue to be documented by the Forum and by its member organisations. It is important that individual attacks be looked at in their regional context since, although there are many common factors and distinct features which confirm the existence of a national programme of violence, there are also variations from place to place which seem largely to be related to the commitment shown by the party leadership or the militia commanders in that area. The same variations are perceptible within regions so that some districts may have been badly affected, while others have remained relatively calm. Mberengwa Survey The election in Mberengwa East attracted strong interest from both local and international observers, especially because of the frequent reports of extreme violence being perpetrated on the supporters of Ms Sekai Holland, the MDC candidate for the constituency. The Forum decided to undertake a survey in this constituency in order to determine whether the trends observed in the cases already seen where corroborated by research. Total Eligible Voters 89 433 Total Voter Turnout 50 551 Total who did not vote 38 882 Percentage Of Voter Turnout 57% As can be seen from the table above, 45% of the eligible voters in Mberengwa were unable to or chose not to exercise their right to vote. The total number of victims of political unrest in Mberengwa recorded on the database is 335. The incidents are categorised in the following categories: Death, torture, ill treatment, arrest, detention, property damage, intimidation or threats and other. Some victims may have experienced incidents that may be placed in two or more of the categories above. For example a person may have been both intimidated and detained. The ages of affected victims ranges from 10 to 87, showing the indiscriminate nature of the violence inflicted on the victims. Incidents of political violence were relatively low throughout the months of March and April, but a sharp rise in the number of incidents of politically incited violence, intimidation, threats, and property damage occurred in the period closer to elections. A hundred and eleven incidents were reported for the month of May. Pre-election political unrest peaked in the month of June, when elections were held, with two hundred and ten cases reported. This shows the mood and atmosphere in which the elections in Mberengwa were held. The perpetrators of the violence in the recorded cases are all from or affiliated with the ruling party, Zanu (PF). Some victims identified their perpetrators as belonging to a particular group, for example Zanu (PF) youths or War Veterans, but were unable to name an individual amongst those who terrorised them. Cases