the Clerk of the Parliament causing the names of elected candidates to be published. 5.7 Election Expenses The law provides for a regulation of election expenses but does not include an explicit ban on use of public resources during the campaign. Mixing the roles of an incumbent office holder and a candidate may therefore occur without legal sanctions. 5.8 Other Related Laws Three laws passed after the 2000 election have posed severe limitations on the right to free expression, meetings and fair access to media: The Public Order and Security Act (POSA) of 2002, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) of 2002 and the Broadcasting Services Act of 2001. Some legal changes made in January 2008 contributed to the improvement of the campaign environment for the 2008 elections, in particular regarding the possibility to hold meetings and the coverage of the campaign by the public media. However, POSA retained regulations which could be misused for political control of parties and NGOs. Examples of some of the very detailed regulations which were still part of POSA included: -- The prohibition of giving any statement - with or without intention - which one i. a. does not have reasonable grounds for believing is true, and which promotes public disorder or adversely affects economic interests of Zimbabwe. -- The prohibition of making abusive, indecent, obscene or false statements about the president, whether his person or office. -- The prohibition of organising public meetings without five days (three days during elections) prior written notice to regulating authorities (the police). The police may then give directions about the conduct of the meeting which they deem reasonable in order to prevent public disorder. The AIPPA regulates access and protection of information, the accreditation of journalists and the registration and certification of mass media services and the code of conduct for the same. The law is detailed and has a clear emphasis on control. The Broadcasting Services Act regulated broadcasting services and provided for the control of the broadcasting service bands by the issuing of licenses for broadcasting outlets and their conduct. The law was changed on some points in 2008. The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe Board, which gave the minister advice on licensing issues, was for example given a broader representation of people with experience in broadcasting: NGOs, traditional leaders, etc. The purpose of the changes was to issue more licences in addition to the current public broadcaster. Further reform of POSA and AIPPA had been part of the SADC facilitated roadmap, but were among the issues that were not dealt with before the 2013 elections. 18 6 The Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) After pressure from SADC an independent Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) was established immediately prior to the 2005 election. That came too late to have full effect for the 2005 elections, but with effect from September 2005 the ZEC was written into the Constitution with the responsibility to prepare for, conduct and supervise elections and referendums at all levels. The commission did not get responsibility for the voter registration but should supervise the authority charged with that responsibility, which was the Registrar General. The 2013 Constitution transferred even voter registration to the ZEC, but for the first elections in 2013 it was still the responsibility of the Registrar General to conduct the registration under ZEC’s instructions. In practice the ZEC could do little with the voter registration. The composition of the ZEC was inclusive in the sense that it included members that had the main parties’ confidence. In February the commission got a new Chairperson when the previous one withdrew and Justice Rita Makarau took over. She was supported by the principals of the three leading parties. The ZEC first conducted the constitutional referendum in March 2013 and then the 31 July elections. There was no doubt that the ZEC for the first time took full charge of the electoral processes, except for the voter registration, even though the minister in charge of the elections, the Minister of Justice, exercised his influence on some issues. UNDP had been the implementing agency for the international community’s support to the ZEC. They were able to build up an information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure at the headquarters and down to province level prior to the March 2013 referendum. A request for further financial support of the ZEC was sent to UNDP from the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Finance in February 2013. Support from the UNDP was dependent the conduct of a Needs Assessment by the Electoral Assistance Division (EAD) of the UN Department of Political Affairs. Such a mission was on its way to Zimbabwe in the beginning of April 2013, but was ultimately unable to conduct an assessment due to a disagreement over the scope of the mission and the access to national interlocutors. On 17 April 2013, the Government announced that it had withdrawn its request for UN electoral assistance. ZEC was during the elections still dependent on other agencies’ equipment in order to transfer information including results from ward level to higher levels. Capacity building at the ZEC had also been done by the South Africa based Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA). A request came to EISA from the ZEC on 4 June 2013 for a donation of up to USD 26.9 Million and ZEC also stated that they were ready to enter a new MOU with EISA. Some countries were willing to channel funds via EISA, but it became impossible because the MOU did not get extended in the 19