ZESN Report on the 31 July 2013 Harmonised Elections ZANU-PF campaigned mainly using its corporate indigenisation campaign and its warning to citizens to defend the country’s sovereignty against the machinations of Western imperialist interests as allegedly manifested by its main political opposition, the MDC-T. For its part, the MDC-T’s main campaign platform was its promise to create jobs, and to leverage upliftment, investment, capital and the ecology (JUICE), as well as its Agenda for Real Transformation (ART) policy, documents that were launched in 2012 and 2013 respectively. The MDC-N campaigned for devolution with the tagline, ‘Devolution is the new Revolution’, with a programme called Access, Control, Transformation, Initiative, Organisation, New technologies and Sustainability (ACTIONS). The Zimbabwe African Peoples’ Union (ZAPU) campaigned for accountability, fighting corruption and the full implementation of the concept of devolution with more power to the provinces. Other parties did not clearly articulate their policy positions. A proposed grand coalition against ZANU-PF did not materialise and, apart from joint press conferences, most parties campaigned alone. Although the law requires that all parties receive equitable coverage, media monitors identified bias in the reporting on political party campaigns52 (See media section for more details). It was reported that in some areas of the country, that some parties campaigned at night as they were afraid of victimisation.53 Some areas reported problems with securing police clearance for their meetings. The GPA54 attempted to address the partisan behaviour of traditional leaders.Reports show that traditional leaders continued their partisan support for ZANU-PF with some of them sealing off their areas from the MDC formations and colluding with war veterans and youth officers to campaign on behalf of ZANU-PF.55 Political Party Financing The Political Parties Finance Act [Chapter 2.11] of 2001 provides for annual state funding for political parties, which won at least 5 per cent of the seats in the National Assembly at the last elections. The funds are disbursed based on the proportion of the seats the party won in the previous election. Whilst this is a positive move, it means those parties that did not win seats in the previous election cannot quality and any new emerging party would still not qualify, no matter how much popular support it has. 52 ZESN Long-Term Observer reports ZESN Long- Term Observer reports. 54 Global Political Agreement, Article 14. 55 ZESN Long- Term Observers reports. 53 53 | P a g e