ZESN Report on the 31 July 2013 Harmonised Elections ZESN observers noted that at 88 per cent of polling stations nationwide voters requiring assistance were allowed to bring a person to assist them however in some cases, the presiding officer and polling officers and the police also went in with the voter , violating the law. This practice was prevalent in many polling stations and violated the secrecy of the vote. In the past, the law required that polling officials only assist voters, which was seen as violating the secrecy of the vote and intimidating to the voter. Observers could not ascertain if it was a person of their choice or not. In some cases, observers reported one person assisting more people which was a clear violation of the law. The number of voters turned away is indeed high at 8.7 per cent of those who did manage to vote. Most of these were prevented from voting because they had turned up in the wrong ward. Some of those turned away did manage to locate their correct wards and were able to vote. But others gave up and returned home, while many more failed to find themselves on the voters’ roll at all, even in the constituencies where they had voted in 2008. Some were even told that they were registered in other provinces even though they had not transferred their registration. Clearly, there were problems with the voters’ roll, which prevented many people from voting. For a country that prides itself to be literate, the number of assisted voters was high. There were allegations that those requesting assistance were forced to plead illiteracy so that they could be assisted to vote for a certain party and have witnesses to that effect. While some of the cases of known literate people who pleaded false illiteracy are known, there are many more who fear going public about this intimidation due to the possibility of retribution that is likely to follow such action. It is important for ZEC 61 | P a g e