allegations against the ZRP and the ZNA. The fact that there was such an enormous rise in the number of witnesses to the violations suggests, as indicted above, that the perpetrators were unconcerned about identification, especially as so many violations took place in the rural areas, and in the heartland of traditional ZANU PF support, the three Mashonaland Provinces. These are all patterns previously seen in the 2000 and 2002 elections, and particularly during the 2002 Presidential election. Since violations have been shown to increase so dramatically during elections, it was then felt useful to make a comparison between the two presidential elections. The rationale for concentrating on Presidential as opposed to Parliamentary elections is straight-forward: under the current Zimbabwe Constitution and ancillary legislation, the powers of the President are so extensive that the incumbent can significantly control the complete workings of government. 36 Hence, winning or losing the Presidential election can very significantly affect the balance of political power, and this can obviously lead to attempts to influence the election result. 36 Here see Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2001), Enforcing the Rule of Law in Zimbabwe. September 2001. HARARE: ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM.