CRS-3 Alleged Vote Buying. In addition to the allegedly partisan administration of the elections, many observers contend that the government used public resources to buy votes. In the weeks preceding the polls, President Mugabe announced significant salary increases for the military and civil servants and signed into law the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill, requiring foreign-owned firms to transfer 51 percent of their shares to domestic investors. His administration also reportedly distributed vehicles and agricultural equipment worth millions of U.S. dollars to ZANU-PF supporters.8 At the same time, in a country where 45 percent of the population is considered by the World Food Program to be malnourished, domestic groups reported numerous incidents of opposition supporters being denied access to state food supplies.9 NGOs operating in Zimbabwe report that the ban on their distribution of food and other humanitarian aid prior to the runoff continues, despite claims by the Mugabe government that it has been lifted.10 Pre-Election Violence. According to a domestic human rights group, the year prior the 2008 elections was marked by a significant increase in incidents of politically motivated violence from previous years. In 2007, there were 603 reported incidents of torture, 865 incidents of assault, and 2,766 reports of arrest and detention. In the months directly preceding the elections, from November 2007 to March 2008, there were 1775 reported incidents of political violence.11 The government routinely deployed riot police to break up demonstrations, meetings and rallies, despite changes to the laws regulating freedom of assembly. In January, police allegedly teargassed and assaulted protestors in Harare after a local magistrate overruled a police order banning the march.12 In February, members of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe reported being abducted and beaten by ZANU-PF supporters; according to their accounts several members of the police and intelligence service were present during the attacks.13 According to reports, the perpetrators were not arrested, but the union leaders were charged with violating a law that prohibits the distribution of pamphlets in public areas.14 Several of the country’s security service chiefs, including the heads of the army and the police, have publicly announced that they would not recognize an electoral victory by anyone other that Mugabe.15 In speeches and statements to the press, they and other public officials, including the President himself, have referred to opposition 8 Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Can the Elections in Zimbabwe be Free and Fair in the Current Environment? March 18, 2008. 9 “Concern Over Pre-Election Environment, Election Update (1),” ZESN Press Statement, January 25, 2008. 10 "Zimbabwe: NGO Ban Starting to Bite," IRIN, July 7, 2008. 11 Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Can the Elections in Zimbabwe be Free and Fair in the Current Environment? March 18, 2008. 12 “Zimbabwe: Opposition Activists Teargassed, Beaten,” IRIN, January 23, 2008. 13 HRW, All Over Again: Human Rights Abuses and Flawed Electoral Conditions in Zimbabwe’s Coming General Elections,Vol. 20, No. 2(A), March 2008. 14 ICG, “Zimbabwe: Prospects from a Flawed Election,” March 20, 2008. 15 “Zim Prisons Chief Orders Officers to Vote Mugabe,” Reuters, February 29, 2008.