Khupe  and  Mujuru  were  among  the  few  female  candidates  in  this  election:  Khupe  drew  key  votes   from  the  main  MDC-­‐A  in  Matabeleland,  costing  them  at  least  4-­‐7  parliamentary  seats  (Graph  8).   Mujuru  has  since  the  election  disbanded  the  Rainbow  Coalition  which  performed  dismally.         B.  MATABELELAND  AND  THE  ELECTION  OF  2018       The  intention  of  this  section  of  the  report  is  to  analyse  the  major  electoral  outcomes  in  the  three   Matabeleland  provinces  and  to  understand  them.  At  the  national  level,  precise  numbers  of  votes   cast  in  the  2018  elections  remain  a  contested  arena  for  MDC-­‐A  and  others.  However,  there  were  no   election  appeals  lodged  by  the  opposition  in  Matabeleland.  Our  own  observations  are  that  while   there  were  violations  in  rural  Matabeleland  prior  to  the  election,  such  as  unseasonably  early   distribution  of  agricultural  inputs,  the  votes  cast  were  most  likely  as  counted  in  this  part  of  the   country.  This  is  one  reason  that  this  report  focuses  on  the  three  Matabeleland  provinces,  staying   away  from  more  contentious  provinces  where  appeals  have  been  launched.  Another  is  that  the   authors  have  monitored  elections  here  since  2000,  and  are  more  familiar  with  party  politics  in  this   region.  Matabeleland  also  remained  free  of  intimidation  in  the  post-­‐election  space,  unlike  other   parts  of  Zimbabwe.  In  Harare,  soldiers  shot  dead  citizens  on  the  streets,  in  the  context  of  protests   about  the  election  outcome,  and  soldiers  were  also  documented  beating  citizens  in  the  suburbs  of     10