ZESN - Promoting Democratic Elections in Zimbabwe political actors who claimed to be able to track individual voting preferences of registrants whose registration slip serial numbers they had recorded. In addition, the partisan role of some traditional leaders who openly engaged in partisan politics, the partisan distribution of food aid, the use of State resources in campaigns, and the biased reporting by the public media and ineffective stakeholder engagement by the Commission also marred the electoral processes. • • • • The effect of the foregoing was to skew the electoral playing field. In addition, transparency of the electoral process was compromised by the manner in which ballot papers were procured, designed and printed. In addition, the results management process was not open to political party agents and election observers to track at different stages. • • • • The outcome of the election showed that it was a heavily contested plebiscite, with the two major political parties securing the control of rural and urban constituencies respectively. The presidential election was even closer, with the two main protagonists separated by a very small margin. It is therefore imperative that the government invests in efforts that promote dialogue, national healing and reconciliation, especially following the tragic deaths of protestors on the 1st of August 2018, as a result of the unwarranted use of excessive force by the security forces in a bid to break the protests. It is in light of this that the position taken by ZANU-PF to consider creating a constitutional office for the leader of the main opposition could be deemed a step towards inclusivity in governance. The report proffers a number of recommendations on key issues where reforms are required including, among others: • Government of Zimbabwe: The need for a comprehensive review of Zimbabwe's electoral framework. An all-inclusive electoral reform committee should be set up to deliberate on political, administrative and legal reforms that are needed to enhance the credibility of Zimbabwe's electoral processes; • Parliament: Comprehensively amend or • • • • • • • wholesomely repeal the Electoral Act; Government : Ratify and domesticate international and regional frameworks that govern electoral processes; Government: Accord Parliament oversight over ZEC; Parliament: Enact legislation to specify timelines for the availing of the final voters' roll; Parliament: Enact legislation to provide for disclosure of sources and audits of the use of campaign financing; Parliament: Enact legislation to compel political parties to observe quotas for women; ZEC: Ensure transparency in ballot paper designing, printing, storage, and transmission; ZEC: Reinstate special voting; ZEC: Ensure transparency in results transmission where presidential results for each polling station are transmitted directly to the national results collation centre; ZEC: Consider total valid votes, and not total votes cast, in counting votes as well as avoiding errors that may necessitate the revision of announced results; ZEC: Enforce the law governing the conduct of the State-media around the election cycle to ensure equal coverage of different political parties; ZEC: Put in place mechanisms to facilitate easy voting of people with disabilities while safeguarding the secrecy of their vote; ZEC and CSOs: Voter education should emphasise on secrecy of the vote and counter misinformation by electoral stakeholders; Government and ZEC: Extend the right to vote to all citizens, including those imprisoned and in the Diaspora; Parliament, ZRP, and Zimbabwe Human Rights (ZHRC): Add and enforce punitive measures to those who contravene the Electoral Code of Conduct; and Parliament, ZEC, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC): Put in place mechanisms to monitor and punish cases of hate speech and fake news on social media. 12 REPORT ON THE 30 JULY 2018 HARMONISED ELECTIONS ZESN