alternate on the “zebra lists”, with a woman always at the top of each of the lists for the ten provinces. 4.5 Code of Conduct A more comprehensive Code of Conduct for Political Parties, Candidates and other Stakeholders was added to the Electoral Act. If implemented, it will create a culture of mutual respect and tolerance amongst political parties. This was a welcome development as the code clearly stipulates the way political parties, candidates, agents, and their supporters should conduct themselves. It also covers issues such as politically-motivated violence, assault and intimidation, which had been inadequately dealt in previous election cycles. The code also addresses issues of hate language; damage and defacing of campaign material; the coercion of voters to participate in political parties’ activities, and calls on political players to respect the role of the media and women in elections. It contains a sanctions mechanism through the resolution of disputes within Multiparty Liaison Committees, the sanctions in the Electoral Act including fines, imprisonment, fines, as well as disqualification from voting or filling a public office. Thus the Code of Conduct is comprehensive in dealing with electoral issues that had plagued the Zimbabwean electoral cycle in previous elections. The Code of Conduct also outlines the duty of political parties, the ZEC and other stakeholders to collaborate with law enforcement and judicial authorities, including the ZRP, the NPA, and the Courts, in preventing and sanctioning offenses in the electoral process and these are great strides in ensuring respect for the rule of law during elections. However, the provisions of the Code were not followed by several political parties. This led to numerous court cases being filed before the election wherein the applicants were violating some provisions of the Electoral Act. In some of these cases, the applicants alleged intimidation of their supporters and vote buying, amongst other electoral malpractices. However, several of the application were dismissed as the litigants did not have adequate evidence some notable examples include Nyamadzawo v Chiweshe EC 12/18. Some of the orders sought by applicants were granted as was the case with Mangondo v Kariwo and 2 Ors EC13/18. 4.6 Electoral Court Establishment The Electoral Court is established in Section 161 of the Electoral Act. It has jurisdiction to hear appeals, applications and petitions in terms of the Electoral Act. On 28 May 2018, an Electoral Amendment Act was passed and it brought some changes and clarity on some of the court procedures. For instance, Section 121 makes it clear that the Electoral Court is a 22 | P a g e