Mozambique: “Reports of irregularities increased” during vote count – National Elections Commission | Watch

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: “Reports of irregularities increased” during vote count – National Elections Commission | Watch

9:53 CAT | 17 Oct 2023

Screen grab: DW

Mozambique’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) acknowledged on Tuesday that “reports of irregularities increased” in the vote count for the local elections on 11 October, assuring that it “will be ruthless” with the electoral agents responsible for the illegal acts.

“At the time of the polling stations tallies, reports of irregularities have increased, constituting real electoral offences,” said CNE spokesman Paulo Cuinica, in a statement he read to the press at the institution’s headquarters in Maputo, but without the right to questions.

Cuinica pointed out that the first instance of judgement for illegal acts committed at polling stations is the district courts, and that the decisions of these courts can be appealed to the Constitutional Council (CC) by the contesting candidates.

“We want to ensure that we will be ruthless with our members and electoral agents who have disrupted the process. That’s the way the law dictates,” the statement emphasised.

All polling station staff involved in illegal practices will be held accountable if there is proof of their deviant behaviour, it said.

The CNE statement pointed to polling station presidents who refused to sign the vote tabulation notices as the target of sanctioning action by the competent authorities.

It said that the CNE is receiving the results from the provincial commissions and that the president of the CNE must announce the results of the vote by the 26th, as required by law.

“We realise that we are all tense and under pressure, but we must remain serene and calm,” the statement stressed .

The statement said that, with regard to the irregularities recorded at the time of voting, data centralisation and the intermediate municipal tabulation – which are the responsibility of the district electoral bodies – all of them are receiving attention from the competent bodies.

The CNE statement emphasised that the voting took place in an orderly and peaceful manner, although there were “some irregularities that were noticed at some polling stations”.

The sixth local elections in Mozambique took place in 65 municipalities on Wednesday, including 12 new municipalities, which went to the polls for the first time.

According to intermediate district and provincial results released by STAE in recent days for 50 municipalities, Frelimo won in 49 and MDM in Beira.

The “Mais Integridade” consortium, a coalition of Mozambican non-governmental organisations, accused Frelimo of manipulating the results of the local elections on the 11th, leading to “a high level of fraud”.

In protest at the results, Renamo, the main opposition party, has called for nationwide demonstrations, starting today.

Source: Lusa / DW