For example, on the declaration of results, while the Electoral Act prescribes that the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) shall declare the results of the Presidential Election ‘not later than five days after the polling day’, the Constitution stipulates that ‘the results of the election or referendum are announced as soon as possible after the close of the polls’. Scrupulous respect for this requirement is vital to maintain public confidence and to enable prompt challenge with expeditious determination thereof. Accordingly, the Electoral Act should be aligned with the Constitution, especially in the light of public concern over delays in the aggregation, tabulation and publication process. Consideration may be given to amending the law to ensure that the aggregation of results is verifiable and transparent, and the declaration of results is made without undue delay. Another example of inconsistency between the Electoral Act and the Constitution relates to the delimitation of electoral boundaries. The Constitution prescribes that the ZEC must conduct a delimitation of the electoral boundaries as soon as possible after a population census, such that, so far as possible, at the time of delimitation equal numbers of voters are registered in each constituency. By contrast, the Electoral Act merely requires the ZEC to notify the public of its intention to review and fix boundaries and to entertain representations from affected or interested persons. Notably, for the 2018 Harmonised Elections, no process of review or delimitation took place despite the availability of the 2012 census: the boundaries used were those of the 2008 elections. A consequence of this was the significant discrepancies in numbers of registered voters across constituencies throughout the ten provinces. Given the significant number of political parties in Zimbabwe, the absence of a dedicated Political Party Act to comprehensively regulate political parties is a blatant gap in the legal framework. Additionally, the Political Parties (Finance) Act places no limits on electoral expenditure. Legislation capping electoral expenditure could be introduced before the next elections, thus levelling the field for political parties and candidates. Conclusions: The legal framework for elections in Zimbabwe is largely sound. Recent legal reforms have improved it further. Nonetheless, a review of the electoral framework is required to address the critical gaps, as well as inconsistencies with the 2013 Constitution, and to strengthen it further for subsequent elections. Management of the electoral process Political parties and civil society groups expressed concern that the ZEC missed opportunities to build trust and instil confidence in the electoral process, including the ZEC’s management of same. Instances singled out included the lack of transparency in the ZEC’s handling of the layout and printing of the ballot papers ix