ZBC, as well as the conduct of broadcasters and publishers during the election period. Although this regulation does not establish a specific amount of airtime to be allocated to electoral contestants in the state-owned media, it provides for interviews with candidates and programmes in which political parties and candidates can present their manifestos or discuss the elections. Section 160H of the Electoral Act establishes also that any media willing to publish any advertisement by or on behalf of a political party or candidate shall offer the same terms and conditions to all contestants and charge them the lowest rate offered to publishers or commercial advertisements. In the case of the state-broadcaster, rates for election advertisements shall be 70% of its current advertising rates. Regarding news coverage during the election period, section 160J of the Electoral Act establishes that both electronic and print media shall ensure equitable treatment to all political parties and candidates, as well as accuracy and fairness in their reports, making clear distinction between factual reporting and editorial comment. Parties and candidates must also be afforded a reasonable right of reply to false allegations made in the news. Finally, the Electoral Act (section 160K) establishes the obligation of the ZEC to monitor the Zimbabwean media during the election period to ensure that political parties, candidates, broadcasters, print publishers and journalists abide by the provisions in the Act. D EU EOM Media Monitoring During the electoral period, media and journalists operated in a generally free environment, which only deteriorated in the wake of the incidents of 1 August in Harare (see section on Results and Post-Election Environment). The EU EOM registered a total of eight cases of journalists injured, attacked or harassed during the entire observation period. Overall, election coverage in the media was not pluralistic. Print and electronic media at national and provincial levels made efforts to provide some coverage to minor parties, mainly through candidate profiles and interviews published in the national newspapers and debates aired on some provincial radios stations. However, ZANU-PF and the MDC-Alliance largely dominated the election-related information presented to voters. In accordance with the Electoral Act, from 4 July the state broadcaster ZBC afforded free access to political contestants through various programming (“The Manifesto”, “The Candidate” and “The Debate”) aired on TV and radio stations. Nevertheless, ZBC failed to abide by its legal obligation of ensuring equitable and fair treatment to all political parties and candidates in its news and current affairs programmes. From 25 June to 30 July 2018 the EU EOM monitored 12 media outlets with a nation-wide reach. This sample included the state-owned media ZTV, Classic 263, Radio Zimbabwe, the governmentcontrolled newspapers The Herald, The Chronicle and The Sunday Mail, as well as commercial radio stations Star FM, ZiFM and the private newspapers NewsDay, Daily News, The Standard and The Zimbabwe Independent. 28