The legal framework of Kenya provides for continuous voter registration. However for the purposes of the 2017 general elections, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) conducted a Mass Voter registration excise in two phases, the first in 2016 and the second from 16 January to 14 February 2017. These timelines were provided for in the electoral regulations and this was the final Mass Voter Registration (MVR) to be conducted before the 8 August 2017 general elections…more

The following is a comprehensive analysis and documentation of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network’s (ZESN’s) observation of the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) process in Zimbabwe. It covers all the critical moments of the BVR process from its inauguration and inception in September 2017 to completion of the extended BVR Blitz exercise in February 2018…more

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) observed the public inspection of the provisional voters’ roll which was conducted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) from 19-29 May 2018. The findings in this report are primarily informed by the Long Term Observers (LTOs) that ZESN deployed to the National Assembly Constituencies throughout the country…more

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) deployed Long Term Observers (LTOs) to observe the Nomination Court proceedings in all 10 provinces across the country. The Nomination Court sat on 14 June 2018 to receive papers from candidates for local authority, National Assembly, and presidential elections set for 30 July 2018. The LTOs observed proceedings in a total of 116 Nomination Courts including Ward level, national assembly and the presidential nomination courts across all 10 provinces on the day of the court sitting, 14 June 2018…more

Introduction

ZESN deployed 210 Long Term Observers (LTOs) to observe the political environment and key electoral processes in the run-up to the 30 July 2018 harmonised elections. This report is based on observations made by the LTOs between 18 May and 07 July 2018 in their respective constituencies from across the country’s 10 provinces. However ZESN produced several thematic reports during the same reporting period, including a report inspection of the voters’ roll, the nomination court, and primary elections for political parties. Figure 1 below is a map showing the areas from which the reports were received. During this period LTOs attended 300 political rallies, met with local stakeholders including the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), civil society organisations, politicians and other prominent members of society…more

This report focuses on the period from 08 to 14 July 2018 and gives an update on ZESN findings from its Long Term Observers (LTOs) based in all the 210 constituencies around the country and from its core teams in Harare and Bulawayo. Over the reporting period, LTOs reported that local ZEC offices were mainly involved in the recruitment and training of polling staff…more

29 July 2018 – In general, the environment in the past few days was reported to be peaceful. No cases of violence were reported by LTOs. Reports show that, in violation of the law, political parties were still campaigning on Sunday 29 July 2018, in most of the constituencies around the country. Most of the reported cases involved the ZANU-PF and MDC Alliance parties. eg. MDC and ZANUPF were winding up their campaigns in Masvingo Province, Gutu South, and distributing party regalia. The same was reported for Silobela and other constituencies…more

The ten files in total contained ZEC Presidential Results by Polling Station. These files contain presidential results information for 10,984 polling stations. The files are not without errors. But these are relatively few in number to systematically benefit any candidate. The polling station results reported by the SBO observers as collected at the polling stations is highly consistent with ZEC Presidential Results by Polling Station. For the 750 sampled polling stations, 96.8% of the data is an exact match between what was reported by the SBO observers and what is contained in the ZEC Presidential Results by Polling Station files…more

Prior to the 2018 Harmonised election, ZESN released a number of statements and reports informed by its Long Term Observers (LTOs) who had been deployed to observe the political environment and key electoral processes during the pre-electoral, electoral and post electoral period. On Election Day, ZESN issued a pre-election assessment statement, mid-day statement, and a report on projections of presidential election results based on its Sample Based Observation methodology. ZESN LTOs have been observing the post-election environment processes in their respective constituencies and this report is based on post-election observations…more

The ZESN conducted an audit of the 2018 Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) voters’ rolls. The audit was conducted to provide independent non-partisan information on the quality of the 2018 PVR and the 2018 FVR to all stakeholders, including: the ZEC, political parties, civic organizations, and citizens. The methodology of the voters’ roll audit encompassed conducting computer audits, people-to-list and list-to-people field tests. ZESN examined accuracy, currency and completeness of the voters’ rolls provided…more