(EUOM), Commonwealth Observer Mission and International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute, among others. The EUOM was scathing in its final report describing the presidential election results as not “verifiable” and “traceable”. It also said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) “lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner”. “The final results announced by the Electoral Commission, contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” the EUOM said in its final report dismissing the elections as falling far short of international standards. These findings should be viewed against President Mnangagwa’s pledge to deliver free, fair and credible elections. The general expectation was that these pledges would have been underpinned by the long overdue media and policy reforms, among other expectations, ahead of the 2018 elections. This became imperative after the country took the commendable step of signing the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) on 21 March 2018. By signing this Charter, State parties pledge to develop the necessary legislative and policy frameworks to establish and strengthen a culture of democracy and peace. State parties also pledge to establish public institutions which promote democracy and constitutional order. Additionally, the Charter seeks the promotion and protection of an independent judiciary. More importantly, the Charter seeks to promote citizenship participation, transparency, access to information, freedom of the press and promotion of gender balance and equality in the governance processes. Concrete steps should therefore have been taken to ratify the Charter and domesticate its principles into the relevant laws and strengthen the pillars of democracy ahead of the elections. As the country grappled with the unfolding socio-economic crisis, the United States, exerted more pressure on the Harare government over and above its Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) of 2001 which imposes sanctions on Zimbabwe. In a statement before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy in December 2018, deputy assistant secretary of State for Africa, Matthew Harrington, noted that President Mnangagwa’s government had tried to change “but so far, the pace and scale of reforms has been too gradual and not nearly ambitious enough”.