OVER 1,500 people were affected by political violence during the recently held by-elections across the country, human rights watchdog, the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) has said.

Zimbabwe last month held four by-elections in Binga and Chipinge Rural District Councils, as well as Gutu East and Insiza North constituencies, which were all won by the ruling party, ZANU PF.

In its latest report, ZPP said it documented 14 human rights violations, which were in the form of harassment, intimidation, and physical violence.

In some cases, victims were severely assaulted and sustained injuries.

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"Cumulatively, ZPP documented a total of 14 violations in the four by-elections, which affected a total of 1,587 victims," the report reads.

Zanu PF has a long history of political violence, with perpetrators often going unpunished.

The ZPP also said that in Gutu East, village heads Bornface Takawira, Bornsen Musara, and Herbet Manjonjo served as polling agents as a way to intimidate voters.

"These traditional leaders, along with political activists, made public threats during rallies, warning people that they could be evicted from their land if they voted against the ruling party.

"Traditional leaders in Gutu East acted as polling agents for the ruling party, which constitutes a clear violation of both the Constitution and the Traditional Leaders Act.

"These observations raise concerns about the integrity of the electoral process and the potential for voter intimidation," the report added.

ZPP further reported that in some instances, literate voters were forced to declare that they could not read or write and were then assigned specific ZANU PF members to assist them in voting.

The rights watchdog argues that these incidents raise serious concerns about possible voter manipulation and coerced voting.