ZIMBABWE: PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS - 2005 11 checking the voter IDs against the voters register, a ballot box and at least one booth for filling in the ballot. The turnout in the cities had traditionally been around 50%. However, the turnout in 2002 would have been higher had the capacity been sufficient. The average per line was expected to be around 350 voters, which was clearly within what was possible to process with a good will and efficient staff on Election Day. With statistical variations, there might have been problems, but on Election Day the capacity turned out to be sufficient. The other aspect of the three production lines was the secrecy of the votes. Protocols were to record the result per ballot box, and some ballot boxes would contain a very small number of votes. In rural areas this would culminate in the controlling atmosphere that was already strong before the elections. Traditional leaders were telling voters to report to them before the elections and their names were ticked off on the voters registers. This was seen to be a measure not only to get people out to vote but also to make them vote in a particular way, and voters were led to believe that it was possible to gain knowledge of their vote after the elections. Therefore, the split in three ballot boxes added to the possible intimidation, and the secrecy of the vote was violated. Candidate Agents and Observers Each candidate could have one agent present at all times in each polling station. In addition, domestic NGOs and some international delegations were invited to observe the elections. There were 8,235 polling stations around the country. More than 7,000 domestic observers were accredited by the Elections Supervisory Commission (ESC), out of which more than 6,000 from the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN). Many of the remaining one thousand were co-ordinated by ZESN in such a way that most of the polling stations were covered by a domestic observer on Election Day. The invitation to international observers was more limited than during previous elections. The SADC and African Union were invited, but not the SADC Parliamentary Forum (which filed a critical report in 2002). Zimbabwe insisted that the Parliamentary Forum should come as part of the SADC delegation, but this request was denied by the Parliamentary Forum, who argued for their independent position within the SADC structure. In addition, a number of governments were invited, and from these only Russia from Europe. Embassy personnel of all states present in Zimbabwe could accredit their diplomats as observers.