iii) The members of local councils; iv) The mayor of the metropolitan councils (if directly elected); v) The directly elected mayors in urban local authorities, if any. All voters would cast three ballots on election day. In these elections there were no directly elected mayors. The terms of office for all elected bodies were five years. 5.3 The Proportional Distribution Formula In proportional elections parties register candidate lists, voters vote for a list and the parties receive a number of seats in proportion to their share of the votes. In Zimbabwe the system is a so-called closed list system which meant that the seats are filled from the top of the list according to the party’s predefined priority. The parties had to nominate a number of candidates corresponding to the number of seats to be filled in the election. For the National Assembly women’s race and the Senate the number was six, and for the provincial councils ten. Obviously the exact share of the mandates which a party is entitled to will most often not be a whole number and there are a number of formulas for how to translate the number of votes into seats. In Zimbabwe the choice was the method of largest remainder with Hare’s quota. This is a quite common method but it has some disadvantages which may discourage the use. In addition, the law has some inconsistencies and errors which could cause unnecessary problems. A discussion of the side-effects of the LR is given in Appendix B. It so happened that some of the side-effects surfaced in the 2013 elections, as discussed in the results sections below. The three problems being discussed are: 1. There is a chance for extremely small parties to win seats in a manner which will appear quite random; 2. The LR is not consistent in terms of variations to the votes for one party or the change of the total number of seats. A change to the number of votes for one party may affect the interrelation between two other parties, and an increase of the total number of seats may reduce the number of seats won by a party; 3. There were contradictions in the law where rounding was prescribed in the examples given when calculating Hare’s quota but not in the prescribed procedure. The conclusion of Appendix B is that the distribution method should be changed to one of the more robust division methods that do not have the disadvantages of the LR, such as the Sainte-Laguë method. If the LR is kept, one should consider introducing a threshold to avoid the first point above, and no rounding should be used when calculating the quota. 12 5.4 Presence of the Police in the Polling Stations The role of the police on polling day has been controversial. ZANU PF wanted the police to be inside the polling station, witnessing the assistance to illiterate voters and other voter in need of assistance. The MDC factions wanted the police to stay outside the polling station, and they should only be admitted inside upon an explicit request by the presiding officer. They feared that the police would be perceived as intimidating if they were inside the polling station at all times. In January 2008 the election law was changed following an agreement among the parties on electoral reform, and on the issue of control of the polling station it stated: “55 Conduct of poll […] (2) The presiding officer and other officers at the polling station shall— (a) keep order thereat and regulate the number of voters to be admitted at a time; and (b) exclude all persons other than— (i) electoral officers present for the performance of their official duties; and (ii) the candidates and their chief election agents; and (iii) one election agent for each Presidential candidate or candidate standing in the constituency or ward where the polling station is located; and (iv) accredited observers; and (v) persons who are recording their votes; and (vi) such other classes of persons as may be prescribed. (3) Save as is provided in subsection (2), the presiding officer may require any person, other than a person actually recording his or her vote, to leave the polling station and— (a) any person who fails to leave the polling station when so required may be arrested on the order of the presiding officer and shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level four or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months or to both such fine and such imprisonment; (b) any person empowered by law to make arrests shall carry out an order of the presiding officer in terms of paragraph (a). (4) The powers conferred by subsections (2) and (3) shall not be exercised so as to prevent any voter who is entitled to vote at a polling station from having an opportunity of voting at that polling station. (5) For the purpose of keeping order at a polling station and the area surrounding it, every electoral officer at the polling station shall have the powers of a peace officer under the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Chapter 9:07]. (6) A presiding officer may call upon a police officer for assistance in keeping order at the polling station and the area surrounding it, and every police officer so called upon shall provide whatever assistance is needed. (7) The Commissioner-General of Police shall ensure that sufficient numbers of police officers are available to provide assistance if called upon in terms of subsection (6).” 13