processed without any requests for further payments. Dual accreditation should, therefore, not be a deterrent for the media to effectively play its role in information dissemination, which is critical for the people of Zimbabwe to access election-related information to make informed decisions and choices. MISA Zimbabwe Way Forward Post-2023 Zimbabwe Elections The experience of the Kenyan journalists calls for a genuine conversation on the need for a more transparent and responsive accreditation regime for foreign media in covering elections in the country to avoid such structural technicalities that needed to be communicated when the approval was communicated to the three journalists. There is a need to increase transparency and accountability in the accreditation process for both local and international media. One way of doing so is to take advantage of technological developments and introduce an online application process that allows for tracking the application and its status. The system should automatically highlight to the applicants whether the application has been successful and the reasons for the application’s failure. MEDIA OPERATING ENVIRONMENT: JOURNALISM SAFETY AND SECURITY As highlighted earlier in this report, the media operating environment drastically improved during the 2023 elections compared to previous election seasons. For instance, in 2018, of the 31 media freedom violations recorded, fifteen (15) involved security forces (ZNA and ZRP) members, while ten involved political actors and the other six involved other actors. In 2022, a year in which we had by-elections in March, we recorded 24 media freedom violations affecting 36 journalists. Of the 24 incidents we recorded, nine (9) involved the police, while 10 involved political actors and the other five were perpetrated by other actors. Encouragingly, and so far this year, the number of violations involving political actors and members of the security forces (ZRP and Zimbabwean airport security) has dropped to eight (8). As of mid-October 2023, of the 13 cases recorded, two (2) involve members of the security forces (ZRP and Zimbabwean airport security), six (6) involve political actors, while the other five (5) involve other actors. These violations affected 11 journalists. 8