of registration centres. These challenges could open up ZEC to allegations of rural bias and urban voter suppression if not adequately explained (See Analysis of Voter Registration Statistics). Gendered Dimensions of Preparedness ZESN has observed that some of the voters' registration centres especially the mobile centres such as tents (especially in rural areas) were not sensitive to the needs of women and other special needs groups on account of being far from sources of clean water and ablution facilities. Future mass electoral processes like registration; inspection, and voting, must ensure that centres are set up in conducive locations that cater for the needs of women and other special needs groups mainly female registration officials, women registrants, women observers amongst others. While there was no direct formal complaint on this matter from ZEC officials, some ZESN female observers raised the issue, with suggestions that ZEC considers hiring mobile toilets for places that do not have proper ablution facilities, as well as the provision of habitable facilities. Stakeholder Involvement While voter registration is a technical electoral process conducted by the EMB to compile or update a voter register, as highlighted in section 3, the process exists in an electoral ecosystem where success is also a function of perceptions, trust, and credibility of the EMB administering the process. Electoral procedures, in this regard, are not just about electoral contests but also about collaboration and cocreation of the electoral environment within which fair competition between political parties, independent candidates and different protagonists can ensue. The best technical processes can, therefore, be undone by lack of trust from other stakeholders, making stakeholder engagement an essential ingredient for success, and the extent and quality of their involvement by Elections Management Body, in Zimbabwe’s case ZEC, becomes critical. During the BVR process, ZEC's engagement with stakeholders took various forms with varied stakeholders. Amongst the critical stakeholders in Zimbabwe's electoral process are Political parties, Civil Society Organization's, Government, Members of The Public, Local and International Technical Assistance Groups, and Vendors of different products and services key to the electoral process, as indicated in the diagram below. 26