5.7 Observers’ Accreditation Applications for accreditation are submitted to ZEC and are approved by the OAC. On the OAC sits the Chairperson of the Commission; Deputy Chairperson; three Commissioners; a nominee from the President’s Office and Cabinet; a nominee from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; a nominee from the Ministry responsible for immigration; and a nominee from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. The OAC has been criticized for lacking independence as it is dominated by representatives from the Executive. For purposes of the 2018 elections, the OAC was established on the 10 June 2018, the accreditation of observers ran for 50 days, from 10 June to the 30July 2018. Applications for accreditation closed four days before the Election Day in accordance with the Electoral Law21. Accreditation centres were published on 13June 2018 and were decentralized to 10 provincial centres. The ZEC reduced accreditation fees for accredited BVR observers from US $10 to US$2. This was after advocacy interventions from ZESN and other CSOs to reduce the accreditation fees for observers. The accreditation fees for different types of observers were pegged as follows:US$10 for local observers; US$20 for observers from the continent of Africa; US$50 for observers from foreign Embassies in Zimbabwe; US$100 for observers from any country outside Africa; US$50 for Zimbabwean media practitioners accredited with the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) and working in Zimbabwe for foreign media houses; US$10 for Zimbabwean local media practitioners accredited with the ZMC; US$20 for media practitioners from the continent of Africa. African Union and SADC EOMs were exempted from paying accreditation fees. While ZESN recognises and commends the effort of Commission in accrediting domestic observer groups which empowered CSOs to execute their functions as established in the guidelines, as such contributing to transparency and overall acceptance of the elections, the Network was concerned with the costs and process of accreditation. Domestic observers were required to pay ten United States dollars ($10) each for accreditation fees and to physically present themselves at the ZEC provincial accreditation centres for the process. Transport and, in some instances, accommodation costs were incurred making the costs for the accreditation exorbitant thus stifling efforts to comprehensively deploy domestic observers at all polling stations. There is need for ZEC to review the administrative and 21 Section 40 (1) of the Electoral Act states that; An application for accreditation as an observer must be made no later than the fourth day before the first day of polling fixed in a proclamation made under section 38(1)(a), (b) or (c) for the election of the President, constituency members of the National Assembly or councillors. 31 | P a g e