                SADC Protocol on Gender and Development; The observer missions commended the provision in the law for 60 quota seats for women in the National Assembly and the zebra system for Senatorial seats whereby the first candidate should be a woman; Multi-liaison parties are not fully utilized by the political parties given the recorded number of cases of inter and intraparty violence; Despite an improvements and the amendment of the Electoral Act and other pieces of the legislation, the legal framework governing of the elections is still not properly aligned to the 2013 constitution; ZEC failed to implement some of the AUEOM recommendations, for example, to ensure pluralistic media; The high accreditation fees charged violates Article 12(3) of 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance; Residual mistrust from previous cycles affected the ZEC’s operations; There was a proliferation of political parties due to absence of the law governing their establishment, registration, and operation; The missions noted that there was violence during primary elections; The missions raised concerns over expressions of violence targeted at female political candidates; The missions applauded the presence of Red Cross Society to provide assistance when needed; The observer missions noted that there was transparency during the voting process and the counting of votes; The high observer accreditation fees charged deterred observer groups from deploying observers comprehensively across Zimbabwe; Zimbabweans should exercise their political rights peacefully; All parties should respect the rule of law; The observer missions did not witness any instances of politically motivated violence; and The observer missions noted that the Media Monitoring Committee was not effective. 117 | P a g e