against women a pervasive problem in politics in Zimbabwe. A media investigation supported by the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe noted specific instances of physical violence, including against Thokozani Khupe of the MDC-T party and Zalerah Makari of the ZANU-PF party, in the pre-election period. In response to repeated attacks on female political leaders, the ZGC established the Gender Observatory in June 2018, to gather evidence and document women’s experiences throughout the electoral cycle. The mandate of the Gender Observatory is long term and will work closely with grassroots women-led organisations to develop appropriate strategies to promote women’s political participation in Zimbabwe. While formal dispute resolution and complaint processes existed to report electionrelated violence, in practice, women remained hesitant to engage these systems, and interviewees in the IFES report expressed doubt as to the effectiveness of these processes. Civil society organisations further noted that response mechanisms needed to be expanded to include intra-party referral systems which would allow women to report violence both in the pre-election and post-election period, similar to existing systems in other jurisdictions like South Africa. Recommendations  The Commonwealth Observer Group recommends the quotas prescribed for women under Section 124 of the 2013 Constitution should be negotiated by the new parliament before its expiration in 2023. For example, in Uganda and Bangladesh, quotas for women are negotiated in parliament every five years before their expiration.  Given the low participation of women in contested seats in this election, consideration should be given to extending the quota system to the Senate and local authorities.  Consideration should be given to the creation of women-only seats. The 60 seats could be contested as safe constituencies by women, similar to the situation that pertains in jurisdictions such as Bangladesh and Uganda.  Noting the important role political parties can play in addressing gender imbalance in political leadership, we urge political parties to adopt and implement special measures, such as voluntary quotas, to achieve gender balance within their own decision-making structures and processes.  Noting the high levels of intra-party violence and hate speech towards women candidates, as well as physical and psychological violence against women in this election, the Group supports the recommendation by some civil society groups that political parties should consider establishing intra-party referral systems that allow women to report cases of violence within political parties 26