The number of presidential candidates increased significantly compared to previous elections. In 2008, there were four candidates, while in 2013 there were five (and in both those elections, all candidates were male). In 2018, a total of 1,652 National Assembly constituency candidates were successfully nominated for 210 seats. Fiftyfive (55) political parties1 and 247 independent candidates contested in the 210 National Assembly constituencies. For the local council elections, 7,573 candidates were nominated for the 1,958 local authority wards in Zimbabwe. The list of presidential candidates is provided in Table 2.1. 1 While 55 political parties contested the 2018 elections, there are a total of 133 registered political parties. A patent gap in the legislative framework is the lack of legislation regulating the establishment of political parties, who currently register with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. However, the Political Parties (Finance) Act stipulates that political parties that win more than 5 per cent of the seats in the National Assembly are entitled to receive state financing. This is discussed in Chapter 3. 10