opposition parties and alliances with a view to forming one strong grand coalition to dislodge ZANU-PF. ZANU-PF went on to launch its 2018 Election Manifesto on 4 May while the MDC Alliance launched on 7 June 2018. In the manifestoes, both parties focused on pressing socio-economic issues and infrastructure development. Although there were numerous political parties that contested in the elections, ZANU-PF and the MDC Alliance and, to an extent, the PRC and MDC-T were outstanding in terms of the visibility of their campaigns. In general, political parties campaigned more in rural than urban areas. In their campaigns, political parties and candidates used various methods as they sought to endear themselves to the electorate, namely, rallies; meetings; door-to-door campaigns; roadshows; billboards; banners; posters; fliers; t-shirts; caps; wristbands; women’s wrappers (mazambia); food items; farming inputs; barbeques; buying beer and airtime for the electorate; and the sponsoring of sporting or cultural events. The two main contending parties, ZANU-PF and the MDC Alliance, held bumper rallies in different parts of the country ahead of the election. ZANU-PF had many more billboards for its presidential candidate compared with the MDC Alliance. Commonly used by contending parties were posters on unpaid sites and fliers. In an attempt to solicit votes, ZANU-PF sent text messages to the electorate pleading with them to vote for its presidential and National Assembly candidates, whose names and cell phone numbers were specified. Figure 10.1 below shows an example of the messages sent to the electorate. Figure 10.1: An example of the SMSes that were being sent to registered voters by ZANUPF These messages engendered controversy, with the main opposition, the MDC Alliance in particular, alleging collusion between the ZEC and ZANU-PF, arguing that the former had 62 | P a g e