registrants were no longer turned away as a Commissioner of Oaths or a Councillor assisted registrants with proof of residence. In rural areas registrants proved their residence through letters drafted by Village Heads. Overall the BVR process moved smoothly at the Centres observed by ZHRC monitors in all the 10 Provinces. The registrants were satisfied with the process. 3.4 Intimidation and Threats to Secrecy of the Ballot and other Human Rights Violations linked to BVR The ZHRC received a total of 46 complaints from Marange, Bocha, Mutasa, Chipinge, Zaka, Bikita, Gutu, Gokwe, Buhera, Marondera and Glen View on allegations of forced collection and recording of voter registration slip serial numbers. Investigations were conducted in these areas and findings confirmed that citizens were forced to supply serial numbers of their voter registration slips. The perpetrators were identified as Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) political party members and Traditional Leaders. Section 133A (d) of the Electoral Act prohibits the “persuasion of another person that he or she will be able to discover for whom that person cast his vote or her vote”. Therefore, the actions of these perpetrators intimidated voter registrants, thereby instilling fear that their votes would not be a secret and could be traceable after the election thus, negatively impacting their right to choose freely. The Commission was concerned by the escalation in cases of human rights violations particularly the forced recording of serial numbers of BVR slips, since possession of registration slips was also linked to community members’ entitlement to food aid and Presidential inputs, contrary to the guarantees of Section 156(c) (i) of the Constitution which prohibits electoral violence and any other electoral malpractices. Therefore, the Commission referred these matters to the police, who responded by investigating the cases and disseminated information encouraging the public to report on such illegal matters. The ZHRC produced a separate and more detailed investigative report on this matter.11 11 See ZHRC website www.zhrc.org.zw for detailed report. Page 21 of 55