3. PRE-ELECTION PHASE 3.1 Legislative Amendments On the 28th of May 2018, an Electoral Amendment Act was passed and the 2018 Election date was announced thereafter. The Electoral Amendment Act, amended and repealed some sections in the Electoral Act. Some of the stakeholder concerns were addressed. These included the establishment of the Electoral Court as a specialised division of the High Court and the crafting of an Electoral Code of Conduct for political parties, candidates and other interested stakeholders.5 Some political actors and CSOs argued that the Electoral Amendment Act neglected to address issues of transparency on procurement and printing of ballot papers.6 However, these outstanding issues which were raised by stakeholders could not be addressed once the election day (30 July 2018) had been proclaimed. By operation of law, any amendments to the Electoral Act that could have taken place thereafter would not have applied to the 2018 elections, but future elections. ZHRC took part in the review of the Electoral Amendment Bill before it was passed into law. One major issue which the Commission sought to have amended related to Section 133H of the Electoral Act.7 The Commission, in various platforms raised concern over the composition of the Special Investigation Committees which were supposed to be made up of ZHRC, ZRP and Political Parties. These committees had 5 Analysis of the Electoral Amendment Act of 28 May 2018 and Outstanding Reforms of the 30 th of July 2018. http://kubatana.net/2018/06/22/analysis-electoral-amendment-act-28-may-2018-outstanding-reformsahead-30-july-elections/ 6Ibid. “To assist each special police liaison officer, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission shall, in consultation with the Commission (i.e. ZEC), establish a Special Investigation Committee for each provincial centre, to be chaired by a Zimbabwe Human Rights Commissioner or a member of the staff of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission chosen by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, and consisting of—(a) the special police liaison officer for the province in question; and (b) two representatives of each political party contesting the election, who shall be selected by the party concerned”. 7 Page 18 of 55