Southern African leaders signed up to a common electoral rule book on Tuesday with a commitment to monitor each others' polls without the need for Western observers.
In a final communiqué heads of state adopted rules on polls "which aim at enhancing the transparency and credibility of elections and democratic governance as well as ensuring the acceptance of election results by all contesting parties".
When the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit opened on Monday, Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa accused the West of trying to impose its brand of democracy on Africa - although officials also stressed African elections must be fair.
SADC rallied around the group's most embattled leader, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who is accused of a political crackdown following his disputed re-election in 2002 and who, at age 80, is one of the last veteran guerrilla leaders still in office in the region.
The communiqué said electoral reforms proposed by Zimbabwe's government were consistent with the new SADC guidelines.
"The leaders are in general agreement over the election guidelines, they are in agreement on most issues, including their old position that Zimbabwe needs support and not isolation in its difficult times," a senior SADC secretariat official told Reuters earlier.
The 13-member group also includes Swaziland, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy, and Angola, where President Eduardo Dos Santos has been in power since 1979 and has rejected opposition calls for elections before 2006.