EXECUTIVE SUMMARY On 31 July 2013 Zimbabwe held harmonised elections for the Presidency, the National Assembly, the Senate and local authorities. ZESN deployed 7 099 observers to every province and constituency in the country on 31 July 2013, set at the ‘Election Day’. Reports from observers during the election and throughout the entire process, demonstrated that the credibility of the 2013 harmonised elections was compromised by a systematic effort to disenfranchise many voters. ZESN observers reported on the opening, voting and closing and counting of votes and reported on any critical incidents witnessed in the course of their observation. Zimbabwe’s harmonised elections were highly anticipated because they came at the end of a period of political uncertainty and were expected to lead to a more stable political era for the country. The elections were the culmination of a political process that started with the signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) following the 2008 disputed harmonised elections. The GPA itself was signed to end an epoch of political conflict in the country. The GPA created a Government of National Unity (GNU) that was tasked with amongst other issues, implementing legal and constitutional reforms, as well as to facilitate a period of national healing and creating an enabling environment for the conduct of credible elections and an outcome respected by all stakeholders in the process. A few weeks before the elections a new Constitution was adopted in Zimbabwe following a successful referendum held in March 2013. Consequently, the legislative framework governing elections were conducted using an electoral framework that had been reformed through the Electoral Amendment Act of 2012, the new Constitution of Zimbabwe, and various statutory instruments that were passed shortly before the elections. Several amendments introduced during the runner up to the elections changed the electoral administration practices and process. There were structural changes to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). Results transmission system was to become ward based in an effort to make ZEC more independent. The electoral system was significantly changed to be mixed with various proportional representation measures for the Senate, provincial councils and the newly introduced quota system for women in the National Assembly. However, until the conduct of the harmonised elections, a number of provisions in the GNU reform agenda had not been implemented and remained outstanding, such as media reforms, levelling the operating environment, and national healing, among others. As a result, this election could be labelled a rushed election given the outstanding issues. Elections were to be conducted based on the electoral boundaries in the first elections. There was no new delimitation of boundaries after the passing of the Constitution. Due to the election deadline set by the country’s highest court there was a relatively short period between the proclamation of the election and actual poll day. Nevertheless, normal steps in the electoral process were followed, albeit with some logistical and financial limitations. There were two mobile voter registration exercises which registered an estimated one million new voters, although this was less than the number of those who wanted to register. A number of problems were faced during the mobile voter registration which included, the limited time in which the registration teams were in the wards which left many potential registrants unregistered, inadequate education to citizens on the process and the lack of consistency in application of regulations among others.