impartial body. The minister is not, and is invariably a political contestant during an election period. The Act cannot introduce provisions that potentially undermine the independence, impartiality and effectiveness of the Commission. What would be sensible and in accordance with the law, is to give the law-making powers, in terms of regulations and rules, to ZEC itself as the only constitutionally mandated body to conduct elections. The Constitution of Zimbabwe guarantees every Zimbabwean the right to vote among other wider political rights related to participation in governance issues.viii The Constitution only places two specific limitations to this right: A person must be a Zimbabwean citizen and of the age of eighteen or above. The provisions in the constitution refer to “every Zimbabwean citizen” and do not discriminate between citizens in Zimbabwe and those abroad. All citizens are entitled to political rights and the right to vote.ixThe Electoral Law must make provision to facilitate the exercise of the Zimbabwean Diaspora to vote in national elections. It must not restrict the rights of the Diaspora to participate in national elections. Mechanisms must be put in place to facilitate the registration of voters for citizens in the Diaspora. Section 155(2)(c) of the Constitution imposes a mandatory obligation on the State to ensure that candidates and parties have access to material and information necessary for effective participation in the elections. This includes access to the voters’ rolls. While the Electoral Law already makes provision for the provision of the voters’ rolls, the experience during the 2013 elections showed the futility of these provisions when the responsible authorities failed to provide the voters’ rolls to the candidates. The Electoral Law must provide for consequences for the failure to provide key election materials, such as the voters roll as required by the Constitution. It must be clear that failure to provide this essential information will affect and compromise the validity and legitimacy of the elections. Section 157(1)(c) of the Constitution requires the promulgation of a law to provide for a Code of Conduct for political parties, candidates and other participants in an election. This is critical as it creates a framework of peer review among the political participants and a good opportunity to create a bi-partisan conflict resolution mechanism during the electoral process. The mechanism must be provided for through subsidiary regulations. Section 239(i) of the Constitution empowers ZEC to accredit observers of elections and referendums. Just like voter registration, this power over accreditation of observers has been conferred upon ZEC and it must therefore exercise it as its sole responsibility. At present, the Electoral Act, via Section 40H provides for an Observers Accreditation Committee which constitutes of five Commissioners of ZEC and four political actors who are Government ministers, thus compromising the independence and integrity of ZEC. This is not in accordance with the Constitution. It is ZEC’s constitutional function and responsibility to accredit election observers. It is therefore important to correct this anomaly so that the Electoral Law recognises ZEC’s sole responsibility and function to accredit election 4 Policy Brief: A Call For Alignment Of Laws With The Constitution ©ZESN 2017