Mozambique: Is electronic voting a solution to election irregularities?

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Mozambique: Is electronic voting a solution to election irregularities?

3:11 CAT | 21 Oct 2019

Photo: Twitter / @zenaidamz

An expert in electoral law advocates the introduction of new mechanisms in the Mozambican electoral system in the face of irregularities and delays in disseminating results.

Wahlen in Mosambik (Getty Images/AFP/G. Guercia) — *Image: AFP / Getty*

Violence and evidence of irregularities are just some of the issues highlighted in reports from various election monitoring platforms and international observers. And the question now is: what challenges do the rising number of irregularities, the violence and the lack of transparency in the counting of votes represent for the Mozambican electoral system?

Guilherme Mbilana, an expert in electoral law and litigation, advocates the adoption of new, different voting and vote-counting mechanisms, positing that electronic voting could be a solution. “In terms of physical handling of documents, such as ballot papers, ballots, it is concluded that this is no longer practicable in Mozambique,” he said.

On the one hand, says Mbilana, the introduction of electronic voting avoids working late into the night to ascertain the results, which “somewhat risky (…) at a time when there are already physical and psychological distress facing candidate delegates and observers.”

Too much platform information creates confusion

Guilherme Mbilana Wahlrechtsexperte in Mosambik — *Guilherme Mbilana, specialist in electoral law*

At the same time, there are a number of election monitoring platforms providing by-the-minute information and conducting parallel counts, and “a lot of information mismatch occurs, sometimes because the platforms themselves do not cover the whole country.”

“It creates – and how [does it create]” confusion for citizens, says Mbilana, adding that any structure to manage the various platforms is lacking.

The results have been emerging one drop at a time, and give Frelimo and its candidate Filipe Nyusi huge leads. Guilherme Mbilana says Renamo’s silence regarding these results “may have to do with an internal management, especially of the debacle, because this was not expected.”

“The expectation of Renamo members and supporters was different [to the results],” he says, and the issue of “apparent internal division” in the largest opposition party “may be raising various latitudes of analysis. Any pronouncement that party president Ossufo Momade comes up with needs to be well thought out.”

“What will Renamo be after the elections?” he asks.

Surely there must be a better way of handling ballots and vote sheets. These pictures are allegedly from the #MozambiqueElections. pic.twitter.com/qWYUritlOF

— Zenaida Machado (@zenaidamz) October 20, 2019