Stakeholder and media reports on the primaries indicated irregularities, allegations of rigging and imposition of candidates and, in some cases, violence. A significant number of ZANU-PF incumbents43, especially those believed to be loyal to Robert Mugabe or close to Generation 40 (G40), the faction connected to the former First Lady Grace Mugabe, were reportedly prevented from participating in the primaries and more than 50% of the contesting incumbents failed to secure a nomination.44 The opposition primaries also faced challenges. The agreed seat-sharing formula was opposed by some MDC-T officials, which fielded their own candidates in constituencies reserved for smaller coalition partners. This resulted in chaos and tension at the MDC-Alliance Headquarters during the nomination procedures. The party could not prevent multiple candidates being registered from the party, and this resulted in such cases in 13 constituencies.45 ZEC refused to withdraw the nominations without the agreement of the candidates and corrected the notification on the withdrawal of seven MDC-Alliance candidates published on 4 July, by issuing a new notification one day later stating that six of these candidates “remain as contestants”. This led to a split of the MDC-Alliance vote and the possible loss of at least two seats. A number of unsuccessful candidates from ZANU-PF and MDC-Alliance were reported to have eventually filed nomination papers as independents or as candidates of smaller ‘dissident’ parties.46 Based on ZEC’s candidate list gazetted on 22 June, there were 43 parties (out of 134 registered) and 1,648 candidates contesting the National Assembly elections. Of these, 243 (14.75%) were women. Most of the 246 independents (14.93%) were affiliated to one of the two main political parties, ZANU-PF and MDC-Alliance. ZANU-PF had a candidate in every constituency. There were three constituencies with no MDC-Alliance candidate.47 Based on the number of candidates, Bulawayo and Harare had the most highly contested constituencies, followed by some constituencies in Manicaland and Mashonaland East Province.48 Constituencies with the fewest contestants, e.g. Mudzi South and Mudzi North (each of them with only 2 contestants) have a history of election violence, which may be a deterring factor explaining the lack of political participation. Overall the election was competitive. The main challenges related to candidate nomination were the poor conduct of party primaries, in some instances, and the lack of rigour in candidate nomination, which led to a degree of confusion with some multiple nominations from the same 43 Reports indicated nearly 30% of incumbents were expelled from the ruling party or prevented from taking part in the primaries. 44 There were an unprecedented high number of candidates participating in the ZANU-PF primaries. Reportedly the ZANU-PF has changed the internal guidelines on the conduct of primaries, giving better chances to new candidates to compete for seats usually reserved for liberation war veterans. 45 Some smaller parties, e.g PRC, MDC-T and NPF also have double nominations in at least one of the 210 constituencies. 46 In particular the New Patriotic Front (NPF), formed by disaffected ZANU-PF members and linked to Robert Mugabe and G40, and MDC-T Khupe on the opposition side. 47 These were Hurungwe East in Mashonaland West Province, Chiredzi North in Masvingo Province and Insiza North Matabeleland South Province, where ZANU-PF is contesting only small opposition parties. 48 Dangamvura-Chikanga and Headlands constituencies (each with 16 candidates) in Manicaland and Goromonzi South (15 candidates) in Mashonaland East. 18