INTRODUCTION An election is a process, not an event. For an election to be free and fair the entire process must be free and fair. The electoral process includes the pre-election period, polling day, counting of ballots, announcement of the results and acceptance thereof as well as the postelectoral period. All eligible persons wishing to register as voters must be permitted to do so. In the lead-up to an election political parties contesting the election must be able to campaign freely. Voters must be able to attend whatever political rallies they wish. The public media should be obliged to provide voters with balanced and accurate information about the political contestants in the election. No political party should be permitted to use violence and intimidation to force voters to vote for them against their will. Voters must be assured that they will not face persecution before or after they vote because of their electoral preference. The body responsible for running the election must be independent and impartial and must do its utmost to ensure that the voting and counting processes are scrupulously fair and honest so that the outcome of the election will accurately reflect the preferences of the electorate. All voters who wish to vote in an election must be given a fair opportunity to do so. Foreign and local observation of the elections should be encouraged as their presence helps to reassure voters and enhance the legitimacy of the electoral process. The ruling party must not be permitted to use State rather than party resources to gain an unfair advantage in the election. A key institution for ensuring free and fair elections is a properly resourced and independent Electoral Commission. This body should be given the responsibility of managing the entire electoral process to ensure that elections are free and fair. It will not discharge this mandate if it displays bias in favour of one of the political parties contesting the election or if it conducts itself in such a manner as to give rise to reasonable suspicion that it is politically partisan. The legitimacy of recent elections in Zimbabwe has been much disputed. There have been numerous accusations that political parties opposed to the Government have been prevented from campaigning, that voters have been subjected to widespread intimidation and that the results of the elections have been fraudulently manipulated. The Electoral Laws Amendment Bill, 2007 (HB 13, 2007) (which will be called “the Amendment Bill” in this memorandum) seeks to bring about a series of changes to the electoral laws of Zimbabwe. If passed, it will significantly improve some of the current election laws. Some of the proposed amendments, however, do not go far enough, and there are some important areas that the amendments do not address, although it is possible that the continuing mediation talks will lead to further reforms. The effectiveness of all the amendments will depend on how the electoral laws are applied and enforced in practice. Experience in past elections suggests that, at best, implementation of the Amendment Bill’s reforms will be patchy, at best. Furthermore, there are other laws that will impede the holding of free and fair elections, such as the Public Order and Security Act, aspects of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, the Broadcasting Services Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. All these laws will need to be completely overhauled if the forthcoming elections are to be free and fair. If the Amendment Bill is to be effective, a climate must be created before, during and after elections in which voters will believe that they can vote freely and that the elections will be conducted fairly. It will take time to restore voter confidence in the electoral process. Additionally as a result of a widespread perception that has developed that the present electoral system does not work, voter apathy has become a serious problem. It is therefore essential that there should be a sufficient period between the enactment of the amendments and the elections. Only when voters see the new laws being enforced will their confidence be restored. 4