ZESN - Promoting Democratic Elections in Zimbabwe also had their applications rejected, either because their claims for registration could not be found or because of inconsistencies between the claimant's details and the information held by ZEC that was being used on nomination day. In the case of aspiring councillors, some nominations were rejected as they had sought to contest the elections in wards different to those in which had sought registration. peaceful and non-violent, except for the bomb explosion at a ZANU-PF rally at White City Sports Stadium in Bulawayo. Nevertheless, it was tainted by incidents of intimidation, mostly by alleged ZANU-PF supporters; abuse of State resources in campaigns by ZANU-PF; the partisan role of traditional leaders in favour of ZANU-PF; politicisation of food aid; hate speech by candidates and their supporters; and the destruction of rival's campaign material. CSOs played several roles around the electoral cycle. ZESN coordinated six clusters of CSOs that focused on Election Monitoring and Observation, CVE, Legal and Medical Services, Oversight and Advocacy, Media and Elections, and Conflict Management. Amongst the clusters' interventions were activities relating to CVE; monitoring and observation of electoral processes and the political environment; early warning systems; advocacy initiatives on electoral reform and advocacy programmes targeting the electorate in particular women and youth's participation, among others. The work of CSOs was guided by the CSOs elections strategy produced in February 2017. Additionally, several contentious issues were raised ahead of the election, including concerns around ballot paper printing, design, storage, and transmission. Although ZEC invited stakeholders to witness ballot paper printing, the process failed to provide greater clarity as the observers were neither permitted to ask questions about the process nor come close to the printing press. Furthermore, ZEC failed to communicate effectively with stakeholders on key electoral processes such as postal voting. The media demonstrated an improved understanding of electoral issues. However, there was evidence to suggest that the media was still polarised with regards to coverage of electoral issues, despite legal and ethical obligations aimed at ensuring impartiality and balanced coverage of campaigns, parties, and candidates. There was bias in favour of the incumbent while opposition and smaller parties, as well as women, got far less coverage. Over six weeks of the election period, ZANU-PF got 52% coverage while the MDC Alliance got 19%. Whereas Emmerson Mnangagwa got 57% coverage, Nelson Chamisa got 15%. ZANU-PF got 76% coverage in State-run newspapers and 48% on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), while the MDC Alliance got 17% and 6% respectively. Furthermore, while the pre-election environment witnessed no violations of rights for media personnel, seven cases were recorded after polling, between 1 and 3 August. Consequently, some reforms were instituted that include the removal of the requirement for an electoral officer to witness how a visually impaired person votes; a more comprehensive Electoral Code of Conduct for political parties, and abolishment of the use of voter registration certificates (registration slips) where a person's name does not appear on a voters' roll. Further, several CSOs conducted public and candidates debates around electoral issues including ZESN which conducted a series of debates dubbed “Making Elections Make Sense”. ZESN also convened the Election Situation Room (ESR), bringing together a number of CSOs two months before the election, to enhance coordinated and effective information sharing on electoral processes. Thus the ESR was operative before, during, and after the election, monitoring the environment and ensuring rapid response to electoral issues by engaging the responsible institutions. Zimbabwe is a state party to regional and international instruments that recognise the need for the removal of barriers to women participation While the pre-election environment was relatively 10 REPORT ON THE 30 JULY 2018 HARMONISED ELECTIONS ZESN