themselves. It could be argued that it is of limited use to look simply at figures on their own, without the context of knowing what has actually happened on the ground in any constituency to explain the figures. For example:  Are massive increases in ZANU PF voters in some constituencies an anomaly, or simply a reflection of ZANU PF’s claim to have registered hundreds of thousands of their voters over the last five years?83  In constituencies where the figures appear ‘ordinary’ or within the bounds of the highly possible ‐ such as where the total number of votes cast has barely changed since the previous election and the winning candidate wins by a margin of a few percent ‐ were there nonetheless events on the ground that interfered with a free and fair voting process? Specific Outcomes that remain unknown More than 20,000 independent observers were deployed countrywide, more than 9,000 of which were from Zimbabwean civic organisations. Furthermore, every political candidate was legally entitled to two polling agents in every polling station in their constituency: in 96% of polling stations, there were in fact opposition polling agents84. Their main responsibility is to be present not only during the vote, but also during the counting of the vote. Every polling agent is supposed to complete a V11 form, recording all aspects of the vote count, and return this to their party in due course. Considering the large numbers of independent observers and polling agents, it is hard to explain why to date there are no systematic independent sources of voting statistics in the public domain down to the constituency and ward level countrywide, in particular with regard to assisted votes and voters turned away.85 This is an inexplicable failing. The government‐run ZEC has provided global, provincial figures rather than constituency‐ based figures for many aspects of the vote, and this is all that is available to date. It is not possible to accurately assess numbers of voters turned away countrywide on a polling‐ station‐by‐polling‐station basis for example, nor is there a record of assisted votes by polling station or by constituency. Having access to these numbers would give a more accurate picture of how many turned out to vote in given constituencies or wards, how many succeeded in doing so, and under what conditions.86                                                              83 These media articles dating back to October 2012, show a concerted effort by ZANU PF to register a million new voters among their supporters. Sunday Mail, “Zanu‐PF strongholds record highest number of new voters”, Harare, 9‐15 June 2013. Sunday Mail, “Million new voters for Zanu‐PF”, Harare, 2‐8 December 2012. Daily News, “Mugabe shakes up to youth vote”, Harare, 16 October 2012. The Standard, “Zanu PF embarks on door‐to‐door campaign”, Harare, 28 October 28‐3 November 2012. Daily News, “Zanu PF targets rural vote”, Harare, 30 October 2012. Daily News, “Mugabe targets women vote”, Harare, 27 November 2012. 84 ZESN, ZESN report on the 31 July Harmonised Elections, Harare, September 2013. http://www.zesn.org.zw/images/statements/ZESN_2013_Harmonised_Election_Preliminary_Statement_01_ August_13‐1026hrs.pdf 85 In a few constituencies this information may be available, but is not in the public domain, save for Bulawayo East. David Coltart of the MDC circulated his polling agents’ records of what happened on a polling‐ station‐by‐polling‐station basis and his rigorous report stands alone in this election in terms of helping us understand what might have happened on the day. 86 The main NGO report in Zimbabwe released to date is that of ZESN, released during September. This report provides a very good general background to the election and some of its anomalies. However, it does not shed   31