● ● ● reminded of such traumatic events during political campaigning, they are caught up in fear and can easily be manipulated and compromised. A comprehensive, victim sensitive national peace and reconciliation process. Traditional leaders are very powerful in Zimbabwe's rural areas. Any instruction they give to the 29 community members is binding especially if it comes from ―the aboveǁ. Their strategic positioning and unregulated community influence has led to the manipulation of the traditional leadership institution by political parties and candidates. As a result, some traditional leaders have become servants or ―political party commissariatǁ of political parties. They pursue political party interests instead of promoting the common good against Traditional Leaders Act and the Constitution of Zimbabwe. It is important to assist traditional leaders with transformative, educational and learning experiences on Social Teachings of the Church, Traditional Leaders Act and the Constitution of Zimbabwe. At the same time, there should be continuous engagement on peace and inclusivity with ―the aboveǁ usually responsible for creating and communicating divisive ― instructionsǁ to the traditional leaders. Humanitarian aid, especially food and agriculture inputs have been used as tools for political mobilization. Political opponents are denied as long as they do not change their political affiliation. Since food is a basic human right, it is important for the parliament to formulate laws that guide the distribution of humanitarian aid. This will enable prosecution of those that deny, on political or any other grounds, others their basic human right such as food. Political parties should also design framework or principles for distributing political regalia. This would help in minimizing violent conflicts and, in extreme cases, deaths caused by un-mindful distribution of political party regalia. Voter education should be continuous. It should be evenly distributed across the country in all the 16 languages. Voter educators should be sufficiently trained to help them educate others with expertise and confidence. 5. ELECTION DAY 5.1 Introduction This section summarizes the CCJPZ observations at each stage of the voting process. Election Day observation was done to assess whether the opening, the voting, the closing, the counting and the announcements of results were be done according to the Electoral Act. CCJPZ deployed 850 Election Day Observers. Each was provided with a set of four Election Day observation tools - Election Day Observation Form; Count Observation Form; Critical Incident Form and Results Count Form. A total of 621 completed and valid forms were returned and used in this analysis. The Election Day Observers comprised an almost equal number of men and women to ensure a gendered participation as shown in the Diagram below: Diagram 14: Distribution of CCJPZ Observers by gender 29 The above traditional leaders usually refer to are political party hierarchies above the village where the ―compulsory instructionsǁ come from... 24