While ready to vote, citizens expressed concerns about aspects of a newly introduced biometric voter registration (BVR) system, which records detailed personal information including photographs and fingerprints. In early July, one in four registered voters (25%) reported that an unauthorized person had demanded to see the serial number on their BVR slips. And almost two-thirds (64%) of all respondents – including 77% and 72%, respectively, in Mashonaland East and Midlands – incorrectly thought that they must display this slip at the polling station in order to cast a vote. Although these qualms dropped slightly from higher levels in early May, more than one-quarter of all Zimbabwean adults continued to worry about the secrecy of the ballot; 28% thought that “powerful people” could somehow “find out how you voted” (Figure 3). Such concerns could well keep some people away from the polls. Figure 3: Apprehensions about the election | Zimbabwe | May-July 2018 80% 72% 60% 64% 40% 31% 28% 25% 20% 0% Early May 2018 Early July 2018 Believe that voters must show BVR slip to vote Have been asked to show BVR slip number Think powerful people will find out how they voted Partisan identities As political space has recently expanded, citizens have gradually increased their open identification with political parties. Whereas in early May 65% said they “felt close” to a political party, by early July some 68% said so. A shift of this sort, even if small, was to be expected as the campaign entered full swing and party identification became more salient to citizens. Importantly, popular identification with the MDC-T (party plus Alliance) was up by 5 percentage points, whereas identification with the ZANU-PF may have dropped slightly (Figure 4). In sum, the election campaign seems to have attracted new opposition adherents or lured some reticent supporters out into the open. Copyright ©2018 4