ZESN Report on the 31 July 2013 Harmonised Elections The ward elections officer is then required to transmit the ward returns (results) simultaneously to the constituency command centre and to ZEC’s National Command Centre. Tabulation took place at the National Command Centre even as the results were also successively collated at the constituency command centre, and the provincial command centres. This ‘double’ tabulation is a verification measure designed to detect any manipulation of results along the results transmission channel. ZESN observers deployed at constituency command centres reported that the process of tabulation proceeded according to prescribed guidelines. However, some of these observers had more difficulty getting results in some centres. Announcement of Results ZEC began to announce the results of the elections on the evening of Thursday 1 August. With the results of 62 constituencies announced and ZANU PF had taken 51 seats, MDC-T 10, and an Independent one seat. As more of the National Assembly results were released, it became clear that ZANU-PF had overturned its losses in the 2008 elections and looked set to sweep both the National Assembly elections and the presidency without going to a second round. Even before the final results had been announced, the MDC-T called a press conference and rejected the results on the basis of the previously identified pre-election and Election Day irregularities. The party vowed to go to the courts to challenge the emerging outcome. ZEC continued to announce the results and when the final results were announced on Saturday, 3 August, they were as follows: Table: 14 Parliamentary Election Result Party Number of Seats ZANU-PF MDC-T Independent MDC N Total 160 49 1 0 210 Percentage of seats (2013) 76.67 23.33 0.05 0 100 Comparison with 2008 (in terms of seats) +61 -50 +1 -10 According to the provisions of the new Constitution there are 60 seats reserved for women in the National Assembly, bringing the total number of seats in the national assembly to 270. There are six seats per province and these are allocated proportionally to each party based on the party’s share of the provincial National Assembly votes. Sixty seats in the 80-member Senate are also allocated using the same formula, as are the seats in the provincial councils of the eight non-metropolitan provinces. The Senate lists and the provincial council lists are also designed to increase gender representation as they use the zebra system of candidate ordering. Each list begins with a woman followed by a man then a woman and another man thereafter. 66 | P a g e