1.0. Introduction Mwenezi East Constituency held a by-election to elect a new National Assembly representative on 8 April 2017. The seat fell vacant after the death of Honourable Joshua Moyo of Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF). A proclamation for the by-election was made according to the Electoral Act and 8 April 2017 was set as the byelection date. Four candidates successfully managed to file their nomination papers, with Mr Kudakwashe Bhasikiti withdrawing before Election Day citing intimidation of his supporters and many other irregularities in the campaign period. A total of 20 220 citizens cast their votes during the one-day plebiscite at 62 polling stations across the eight wards making the constituency. Total registered voters were 47 086 meaning a voter turnout of 41, 9% down from 58, 6% in 2013. Joosbi Omar of ZANU PF secured victory with 18 700 votes while Welcome Masuku of National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) had 482 votes and Turner Nhango of Free Zimbabwe Congress Party (Free-Zim) had 386 votes. The by-election was largely peaceful with isolated cases of intimidation reported. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) abided by most of the administrative electoral regulations. However irregularities in the electoral boundaries were noted where voter population variances amongst wards were inconsistent to the requirements of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Section 161(6). The by-election saw attempts by state institutions to implement Section 133J of the Electoral Act by physically and publicly setting up shop on election site. 1.0. Why the by-election? The Mwenezi East by-election was necessitated by the death of Honourable Joshua Moyo hence was implemented according to Section 159 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and declared so through Section 39 of the Electoral Act, which mandates the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to conduct a by-election within 90 days after the vacancy is declared. 8 April 2017 was set by the President as the date of the by-election. 2.0. Methodology: The Consortium approach to Mwenezi East by-election The Rights Heal Elections (RHE) consortium comprising of ZimRights, Heal Zimbabwe and the Election Resource Centre, combined efforts to mobilize citizens, to monitor the political environment and the polling processes during the Mwenezi East by-election. During the campaigning period, the consortium members conducted several peace awareness activities through working together with all candidates to call their supporters to shun violence. The campaigns raised awareness with members of the public on the importance of conducting elections in a peaceful and tolerant manner. Voter education and mobilisation was also conducted targeting specifically the youth. The consortium voter education and mobilisation efforts were however inadequate and thinly spread, they could have more impact if ZEC had played its part by facilitating complimentary work from civic groups. Through the consortium's early warning and response system, resident human rights monitors were deployed to document human rights violations during the election period. A mobile team of monitors was also on the ground ready to respond to violations. The consortium also set up a 24-hour situation room responsible for receiving human rights violations and electoral irregularities and engaging relevant stakeholders. The situation room was also used as an 1|Page