The Chiwundura by-election was not well contested, despite the fact that four political parties were contesting the by-election. The contestants and their respective political parties were; Mr Brown Ndlovu of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic (ZANUPF), Mr Takudzwa Guzete of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), Mr Brighton Mudzwiti of FreeZim Congress, and Mr Webster Zulu of Progressive Democrats of Zimbabwe (PDZ). The political environment in Chiwundura Constituency was relatively tense, especially at the commencement of the campaign season, with numerous reports of political intolerance, vote buying using food aid and isolated incidences of violence in the build-up to the byelection. Polling day observations The polling day was generally peaceful with no incidents of violence or altercations that were reported or observed by ZESN. Voting went on peacefully throughout the day at polling stations where ZESN visited or had static observers. Of concern was the low turn-out of 23.6%, the continued use of two voters’ rolls, and the anomalies that were unearthed by some stakeholders during the de-duplication exercise. These anomalies include the appearance of persons with the same name and surname, date and place of birth but with different identification numbers and photos on their national identification documents. In addition ZESN noted that 81% of the ballot papers printed were not used in the by-election. Furthermore opposition parties fielded party agents at a fraction of the polling stations thus undermining their ability to effectively track electoral processes on polling day. ZEC polling officials conducted themselves in a professional manner at all polling stations that ZESN observed. Observer reports revealed that all polling stations successfully completed setup and opening procedures by opening time and had all the required voting 6|Page