Mozambique Elections: Lutero Simango accuses STAE of blocking voter registration in Beira

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Mozambique Elections: Lutero Simango accuses STAE of blocking voter registration in Beira

4:08 CAT | 29 May 2023

Photo: O País

The president of the MDM, Lutero Simango, is concerned about the slowness of voter registration in the city of Beira, and is accusing the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) of deliberately blocking registration and access to voter’s cards.

Simango made the allegations in Beira on Saturday afternoon after visiting voter registration posts.

“We witness the abusive way in which our fellow citizens are treated by the STAE, when they try, at all costs, to register in order to be able to exercise their right in the next municipal elections,” Simango said. “People from Beira get up at dawn to head for registration posts in the hope of getting voter cards, but do not do so because there are people on a so-called ‘special list’ who are registering every day, to the detriment of those who stand in line for days. This is serious.”

The most worrying aspect, according to the MDM leader, is the fact that many voters are not being allowed to register by presenting a personal ballot [cédula pessoal] or their voter card from the last elections, or even just on the basis of witnesses.

“We are concerned, and we believe that these STAE attitudes are being politically manipulated, and the party responsible for this manipulation is Frelimo, which tries, at all costs, to register only its members and sympathisers. We appeal to the ‘comrades’ to stop manipulating the process, to stop this manoeuvring. Let Mozambicans register freely,” Simango appealed.

The president of the MDM then appealed to potential voters to continue to flock to the voter registration posts. “Don’t give up, because only with your voter card will you be able to define the political future of Beira municipality. Meanwhile, I am waiting for the National Electoral Commission (CNE) to respond positively to our call for the extension of the voter registration period,” Simango stressed.

At the beginning of this month, the MDM submitted a criminal complaint against the director of STAE in the city of Beira, STAE’s head of operations and 60 supervisors, accusing them of associating for electoral offences after allegedly having created a WhatsApp group called STAE Supervisor Beira to coordinate actions aimed at blocking the registration of voters who did not identify with Frelimo.

Simango says that the organs of justice are being slow in dealing with the complaint.

“I was informed on Friday night that some of our [MDM] members were notified as deponents [in this case],” he said. “They will be heard on Wednesday. There are a lot of delays, and I was worried when, when I urged STAE comply with the law, I was received by the head of operations, who is part of the aforementioned WhatsApp group. Individuals like these, who create problems in the voter registration process, unfortunately continue to work. It is a provocation to the patience of Mozambicans. They’re pushing their luck, and when it breaks, don’t say you weren’t warned, In life, patience has its limits, and fear exhausts.”

Source: O País