8 for the opposition, rendering campaigning all but impossible in these areas9. In the Rural District Council election, additional registration requirements were introduced at the last minute, requiring prospective candidates to obtain clearance either from the police or village headmen to certify that they lived in the area for which they wished to stand. With both the police and village headmen seen to be beholden to the ruling party, the fact that 400 MDC candidates out of 1000 available seats were unable to get their nomination papers approved, is cause for concern. These seats were thus uncontested. Echoing patterns of the past, the elections were characterized by violence by ruling party supporters, youth militia and the army against persons wearing MDC regalia. In one instance a house belonging to an MDC activist was torched to the ground 10. Just before the rural district council elections the president of the Chief’s Council threatened to evict opposition supporters who voted for the opposition in the elections. He also said that the opposition would have nowhere to go as other chiefs across the country had also adopted the same policy of banning supporters of the opposition parties from their areas.11 There were reports of food aid being used as a weapon against the opposition and of reprisals against MDC members following the elections. Little of practical value has been done to comply with the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections and the legislation introduced prior to the 2005 elections pays little more than lip-service to these principles12. In particular the management of elections remains firmly in the hands of partisan bodies with heavy involvement of military personnel and the supervisory body, the Electoral Commission is far from independent, being headed as it is by a noted supporter of the ruling party. An interesting development has occurred in the prosecution of perpetrators of violence or past violence in that the period under review has seen the institution of a limited number of prosecutions13. However, some of these prosecutions must be seen in the context of the intra ZANU-PF rivalry being played out through the mechanism of selective prosecution14. A subbenchmark, which would be an indication of a change of governmental policy in this regard, would be the institution of criminal proceedings on a charge of murder against government security agent, Joseph Mwale. In an election petition before the High Court a judge found 9 “Violence Rocks Zimbabwe By-Elections” Zim Online 07/10/06 10 “Violence and Intimidation Mar Rural Council Election Build Up” SW Radio 12/10/06 “Chiefs’ Council president threatens to evict opposition supporters” Zim Online 24 October 2006 11 12 13 14 SADC Principles and Guidelines governing Democratic Elections Analysis: A Bird’s Eye View Arnold Tsunga published by Zimbabwe Lawyers For Human Rights Zimbabwe & Electoral Bill Fails to Meet Benchmarks Human Rights Watch 11/04 See for example: “MP Langa’s Trial Adjourned Zimbabwe” Independent (Zimbabwe) 04/08/06 “ZANU- PF Infighting Escalates to New Heights” SW Radio News 11/08/06 Zimbabwe’s Failure to meet the Benchmarks in the Contonou Agreement