Mozambique Elections: Gaza CPE will appeal against Chókwè poll annulment to Constitutional Council

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Mozambique Elections: Gaza CPE will appeal against Chókwè poll annulment to Constitutional Council

5:12 CAT | 20 Oct 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: DW]

The president of the Gaza Provincial Elections Commission (CPE) says that the body will appeal the decision by the Chókwè Judicial Court, which annulled the municipal elections in the municipality, considering the sentence “unfair”.

“We will appeal to the Constitutional Council and it will be up to them to make the best decision. We have already gathered all the necessary proof and evidence,” Bernardo Macome, CPE president in Gaza province, told Lusa.

At issue is the decision of the Chókwè Judicial Court to annul the elections in the Chokwé municipality and calling for a repeat of the vote, on the grounds that the Nova Democracia (ND) party was prevented from monitoring polling.

The court “decides to declare all the acts carried out invalid, because [it was] proven that the CDE [District Electoral Commission] did not issue credentials in favour of the applicant, preventing it from monitoring the voting on 10/11/2023 in all district tables,” the court ruling reads.

The Nova Democracia (New Democracy-ND), an extra-parliamentary political formation, states in the appeal that the District Elections Commission verbally claimed “superior orders” for the rejection of the 37 names of delegates that the party submitted to the body to participate in monitoring the vote.

The president of the CPE in Gaza called the court’s decision “unfair”, saying that the court did not hear the Chókwè District Elections Commission (CDE) on the matter and that the allegations raised by New Democracy “do not constitute the truth” and are a matter of “bad faith” on the part of the party.

According to Bernardo Macome, ND submitted only 36 requests for accreditation at the 59 polling stations in Chókwè district, of which 25 were rejected because they were in conflict with the law and 11 were accepted, but the Nova Democracia party did not collect the credentials.

“How does the judge of the Chókwè Judicial Court decide to annul the entire election in the district when even if all 36 [candidacy delegates] had been accredited they still would not cover all the tables in the district? This is yet another piece of information that clearly shows that this decision is unfair,” Macome said.

For the Gaza Provincial Elections Commission, if the court had heard the Chókwè District Elections Commission it would not have taken the decision to annul the elections in Chókwe or, at least, the decision would not have affected the 23 polling stations for which the New Democracy party did not ask for accreditation.

The city of Chókwè is part of Gaza province, a constituency dominated by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), the ruling party, and often the scene of political violence at election time.

Source: Deutsche Welle