In this 59-page report, Human Rights Watch documents how the government and the ruling party ZANU-PF, in the run up to the 2008 elections, have engaged in widespread intimidation of the opposition; have restricted freedom of association and assembly; and have manipulated food and farming equipment distribution to gain political advantage. Human Rights Watch also documented biased media coverage in addition to numerous incidents of police and state-security violence against human rights activists and perceived opposition supporters throughout Zimbabwe. The report is based on research conducted over seven weeks across the country and in the capital, Harare.