ZIMBABWE: PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS - 2005 13 Capacity of the Polling Stations The capacity was – as expected – much lower in the cities than in the rural areas. In the morning the lines went up to 5 – 700 in the cities, but by noon they were down to a few dozen or less. Due to the low turnout the capacity, even in the cities, turned out to be sufficient. The Secrecy of the Vote Prior to the elections it had been reported that voters in rural areas were led to believe that their vote could be traced after the elections. The headmen reportedly called people in before the elections to make sure they would vote and then ticked off their names on the voters registers, and this served as a form of intimidation. In addition, representatives of headmen repeated the check on Election Day. For each polling station there were three lines of voters, each with a table for checking the voters register, a booth for filling in the ballot, and a ballot box. The lines were organised alphabetically. The boxes were counted separately, and the results for each box recorded in the protocol. Some polling stations in rural areas were small, and some boxes would contain as few as ten ballots. This endangered the secrecy of the vote. Transparency of the Process At 1:00 p.m. on Election Day the ZEC reported the status of the vote in a number of constituencies. The information included the turnout in the morning, the number of voters not being allowed to vote and the number of voters assisted. The turnout and the number rejected were also specified in later reports. It was good that records were kept at every polling station of people who returned and people who assisted during the vote, and that the figures – even when they were discouraging – were being reported throughout the day. Some of the figures later turned out to be highly inaccurate, but that should not discourage the ZEC from publishing interim results in the future. Assisted Voters The number of voters in need of assistance was high, more than one-third in certain areas. The assistance was provided by the presiding officer at the polling station and there was a concern about the neutrality of the assistance, which may be significant to the high figures involved. There were no reports that the assistance was given in cases where it was not needed, but this is also very difficult to assess by outsiders.