ZESN Report on the 31 July 2013 Harmonised Elections b. Special Courts The Electoral Act provides for the establishment of special courts manned by designated magistrates from the respective provinces specifically mandated to deal with cases of politically-motivated violence and intimidation.18In the same vein, the Attorney-General is also obliged to ensure that during every election period sufficient competent prosecutors are provided for to ensure that all cases of politicallymotivated violence and intimidation are processed quickly and brought to court as soon as possible before the magistrate designated for such purposes as stated above.19 For the July 2013 harmonized elections, the Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, designated 24 magistrates to try adjudicate over cases involving politically-motivated violence and intimidation. The magistrates were drawn from and spread across all the 10 provinces of the country to deal with the cases arising from their respective jurisdictions. During the election period a number of cases were brought before these special courts and the proceedings were generally expedited and matters dispensed with on a fast-track basis.20 Electoral Code of Conduct for political parties and candidates The Electoral Act establishes a Code of Conduct that is adopted by all political parties participating in a general election.21The purpose of the Code of Conduct is to promote conditions that are conducive to free and fair elections and a climate of tolerance in which electioneering activity may take place without 22 fear or coercion, intimidation or reprisals. c. Constitution of Multi-party Liaison Committee The Electoral Act provides for the setting up of multi-party liaison committee for the presidential, National Assembly, and local authority elections.23 It is made up of the political party representatives participating in the election and representatives of ZEC. The multi-party liaison committee’s 18 Section 133J of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] Section 133J(3) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] 20 Whilst the actual statistics of the total number of cases dealt with by these special courts and the nature of charges preferred against accused persons could not be readily ascertained at the time of the writing, it was established that at least 20 cases were dealt with by the courts, most of which were recorded in Southern region of the country. Some of the common charges against the accused persons included campaigning in a polling station, disorderly conduct in a public place and defacing political posters, taking pictures within the polling station and destruction of political posters. 21 See generally, the Fourth Schedule of the Electoral Act. 22 Section 1 of the Fourth Schedule of the Electoral Act. 23 Section 160B of the Electoral Act. 19 22 | P a g e