Mozambique: Renamo demands fresh elections in Marracuene

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Mozambique: Renamo demands fresh elections in Marracuene

6:10 CAT | 22 Oct 2023

Photo: O País

Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, has called for new elections in the municipality of Marracuene, in Maputo province.

According to a report in Friday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, Renamo claims that the results of last week’s municipal elections in Marracuene were corrupted in favour of the ruling Frelimo Party.

The Renamo district delegate, Araujo Assane, told the paper “we have the results sheets (“editais”) and the results we have here are not the results that were published. We won the elections, but they gave victory to Frelimo”.

He claimed that there had been ballot box stuffing, and so demanded, not a recount, but the annulment of last week’s election and the holding of new polls.

Renamo submitted an appeal to the Marracuene district court, which agreed that the district count for the municipality did not coincide with the results obtained at the polling stations. This meant that the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) “changed the results obtained at the polling stations unequivocally and deliberately”.

Nonetheless, the court did not accept the Renamo appeal, because Renamo had not presented any proof of ballot box stuffing, or of the bribing of election officials.

So the court did not throw the official results out, and said Renamo had made mistakes in formulating its appeal.

Renamo has now appealed against the district court to the Constitutional Council, Mozambique’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law.

Source: AIM