PART B The pre-election period and related human rights issues The pre- election period witnessed for the first time in many years the significant opening up of civic space. Political parties and citizens were able to exercise fundamental freedoms to peacefully demonstrate and petition, freely assemble, associate and express themselves in governance issues without restraint. For example, the main opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) under the banner of the MDC Alliance (MDC-A) was for the first time in many years since its formation in 1998, able to hold two protest marches in Harare CBD with no hindrance from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP). Voter registration The right to vote is provided for in Section 67 (3) of the Constitution, which states that: “Every Zimbabwean citizen who is of or over eighteen years of age has the right to vote in all elections and referendums… and to stand for election for public office and if elected to hold such office.” The 2018 harmonized elections were conducted using a new voters roll. Voters were registered using the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR). The BVR was launched in October 2017 and ran until February 2018. Again for the first time in the history of elections in Zimbabwe, the so -called ‘aliens’ were allowed to register and participate in elections. A total of 5.681.604 registered to vote in the 2018 harmonized elections. Of these, 54 % were females and 46% were males. However, voter registration was not free of human rights violations. As reported in the State of Human Rights Report Zimbabwe 2017,2 ZANU PF supporters and some traditional leaders continued with their practice of compelling people to submit their 2 See The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, State of Human Rights Report, Zimbabwe 2017,http://www.hrforumzim.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/SOHRR-2017.pdf 14