Comparison of Pre-election Periods of 2005,
2008, 2013 and 2018
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2005
2008
2013
2018
The above graph shows recorded violations three months before previous elections, comparing with
3 months before the forthcoming general elections. Mashonaland Central province is the only
province which is showing violations higher than for previous elections.
General Observations
All in all, the first quarter of the year was characterised by three
fundamental developments namely:
Heightened cases of intimidation and harassment;
A steady increase in political violence, especially cases of
intraparty violence in both Zanu PF and the MDC-T; and
A steady decline in cases of discrimination, especially cases
relating to the partisan distribution of government aid.
Other notable features were the localised nature of the violations,
the victims and the perpetrators, and the near absence of state
actors as violators.
Intimidation and harassment: The heightened cases of intimidation
and harassment, it is important to observe, were fuelled mostly by the
voter registration exercise, which saw Zanu PF institute what appeared
to be a policy, if one looks at the prevalence of the practice across the
country at such a localised level, to compel voters to disclose their
voter registration information. While the motive is not yet clear, it has
been suggested that the practice was designed to encourage party
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