ZESN - Promoting Democratic Elections in Zimbabwe 15. Election Day and Post-election Period general observation observers were permitted to observe at their respective polling stations. The observers arrived at the polling stations at 6.00am. In all these polling stations, ZEC electoral officers were found present ready for the set-up of the polling station. A) Election Day Election Day Observation Methodology Following the invitation of the ZEC, ZESN deployed 7240 Short Term Observers (STOs) to observe the 2018 harmonised elections which were held on 30 July 2018. ZESN STOs were deployed in each of the country's 1958 wards, and at different results collation centres (Ward and Constituency Collation Centres) and at the ZEC Provincial and National Command Centres. In addition, ZESN deployed 420 mobile observers who served a dual role of observing the environment around polling stations and providing relevant support to STOs. ZESN also deployed observers to 750 randomly sampled polling stations throughout the country. Opening Time According to ZEC the official opening time for the polling station is at 0700. At most of the polling stations where ZESN had observers, the polling stations opened on time, or by 0715hours, with only a few opening between 0716 and 0800hours, 0800 and 0900hours and by 0900hrs. All the polling stations in Mashonaland Central province and Masvingo province were open by 0715 while Midlands almost all centres had opened by 0715. Figure 12 shows the percentages, by province, at the polling stations opened by 0715 hours where ZESN had observers. Voter turnout on election day in most parts of the country was recorded to be high. According to ZEC, the final turnout for the 2018 harmonised elections was 82.5% nationwide. Prior to the election, ZEC had indicated that under the polling station-based voting system, each polling station would have a threshold of 1000 voters leading to the creation of extra polling stations where the numbers exceeded the threshold. The challenge was that the Commission did not adequately publicize the mechanisms in place to divide voters into the extra polling stations. This meant that there was a possibility of voters who were not aware of the extra polling stations turning up at the wrong polling stations on the election day. Fig 12: Percentages of polling stations, by province, at polling stations where ZESN had observers that had opened by 0715hours. Distribution of Polling Stations that were open by 7:15am 100% 97% 97% 99% 100% 99% 99% 100% 96% 97% 93% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% s t l h st ce nd ce go rth ut ra es nd in in a Ea nt vin la No W So al ov ov id d d as d Ce a nd n Pr a n i c Pr n n M M l la la e o la nd le M na le ar la ay na ar be ho be na ho aw a s H a l t o s a a h a at Bu M M M M as M On election day, there were rampant reports on social media questioning the quality of the indelible marker ink that was being used to mark voters, with some suggesting that the ink could be easily erased using Colgate and acetone. However, these claims were not substantiated and proved to be untrue as voting proceeded. Essential Voting Materials Of the centres that were open by 0900 hours where ZESN had observers, 100% had essential voting material such as official ZEC stamp for stamping the ballot papers, indelible ink for marking the voters' fingers, and had the bio-metric voters' registers with voters' photographs. Opening and set up of the Polling Stations On the election day, the majority of the ZESN 55 REPORT ON THE 30 JULY 2018 HARMONISED ELECTIONS ZESN