general election was entitled to a proportional share of funds paid and distributed among all qualified parties. The Minister of Justice, with the approval of the Minister of Finance, has to publish each year the amount distributed among political parties from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. Independent candidates are not entitled to any state funding. Based on this provision, ZANUPF and MDC-T, received $6,126,633 and $1,873,663 respectively. The Political Parties (Finance) Act does not include any provisions on campaign expenditure, but regulates only the requirements for a yearly state funding of political parties not specific to election-related activities,62 while independent candidates are not entitled to any funding. Although foreign funding is prohibited, there is no ceiling on campaign contributions or disclosure requirements for donations. There was a huge disparity in campaign financing and, ZANU-PF dominated all forms of campaigning across the country, including through billboards, posters, distribution of regalia, rallies and road shows. Leaders of the MDC-Alliance and MDC-T admit that they did not have adequate funding to run the campaign or to deploy agents everywhere on election day.63 Section 93 of the Electoral Act offers a detailed description of permissible election expenses, to include “miscellaneous expenses not exceeding in the whole such sum as may be prescribed”; the Electoral (Amendment) Regulations of 2013 specify this sum to five hundred thousand United States dollars.64 Nevertheless, there is a complete lack of reporting requirements and transparency mechanisms thus not only rendering this provision redundant but also undermining the ability of candidates to campaign on a level playing field (see Election Campaign and Pre-Election Environment section). Neither ZEC nor any other indeoendent authority is mandated to oversee respect for campaign finance provisions. The lack of regulation related to campaign finance not only undermines transparency and accountability, but it exacerbates the lack of a level playing field and enables the misuse of state resources for campaign purposes without any real checks and balances. Recommendation 12: Promote accountability and transparency of campaign finance and expenditure by introducing regulations on campaign expenditure, including reporting requirements before the nomination process and shortly after the declaration of results. In order for this to be effective there needs to be a clear mandate for an independent institution – possibly ZEC - to oversee respect for such regulations and to undertake campaign finance audits. 62 Each political party whose candidates received at least 5% of the total number of votes cast in the most recent general election is entitled to a proportional share of funds paid and distributed among all qualified parties. There is no obligation for the parties to account for the public funds that have been availed to them. 63 Meetings of Jameson Timba, Chief of Legal Department, MDC Alliance, and Thokozani Khupe, MDC-T, with EU EOM on 27 and 28 June respectively. However the EU is still looking into a project to fund the training and deployment of party agents for all parties in parliament and requesting such support. 64 The Electoral (Amendment) Regulations of 2013 (S.I. 87/2013) amend the Electoral Regulations of 2005 (S.I. 21/2005) which, in section 22 (2) specified that sum to ten million dollars (NB. Zimbabwean dollars). 23