ZIMBABWE: PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS - 2005 12 Delegations with solid methodology and a good number of observers could have contributed to the transparency of the process. AU has guidelines for observers, and SADC has their standards. AU came with a very small group of observers, and SADC chose in the end to limit their observation to the immediate election period up to the close of the count in the polling stations only. The Election Day Violence and Intimidation The voting was carried out in a calm and peaceful atmosphere. No serious incidents of violence were reported. Isolated incidents of intimidation include some cases of representatives of the authorities who were ticking off names on the voters lists or noting names outside of the polling stations. Some observers and party agents were reportedly denied access to polling stations during the vote, or asked to leave for the count. Voters Registers The quality of the voters registers was challenged before the elections, and on Election Day the doubts turned out to be justified. It is reported that from 5 to 15% of the voters were turned away from polling stations. The official reason given was that people were not registered or registered in a different constituency from where they turned up. This problem was compounded by the changes in constituency boundaries. However, it is the duty of the election organisers to ensure accuracy of the voters registers, and the rejection rates are much higher than what is normally acceptable. A positive development in this context is that the rejections were recorded and reported publicly on Election Day. Party Agents and Observers Both parties managed to have their party agents at most of the polling stations. However, MDC agents were turned away in some areas because of problems with their accreditation. The problem seemed to be solved by midday, but MDC claimed that some agents never got access, and that some were denied the possibility to witness the count. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) reported coverage of 87% of the 8,265 polling stations. They prioritised the rural areas, the areas where a close race was anticipated, and the areas that had faced problems during previous elections. The duly accredited observers of 16 polling stations were denied access in the morning, and were only let in after negotiations and interventions later in the day.