Triangular battle over vote recount in Matola – CIP Mozambique Elections

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Triangular battle over vote recount in Matola – CIP Mozambique Elections

10:07 CAT | 24 Oct 2023

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

The Matola District Court on 18 October ordered a vote recount in Matola. The Frelimo party and the Matola City Elections Commission (CEC) then appealed against the recount. But six opposition members of the CEC said that the CEC chair had no right to appeal against the recount. The three-way fight has gone to the Constitutional Council. (documents in Portuguese.)

The Matola District Court ordered a recount of Matola’s votes after finding that irregularities complained of by the MDM had been proven.

The Frelimo party and the CEC are asking for the Matola District Court’s judgement to be declared null and void, on the grounds that a district count cannot order a recount of votes in the city of Matola, which is only the right of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and the Constitutional Council (CC).

READ: Matola Elections Commission says only CNE or Constitutional Council can order vote recounts – Mozambique Elections

Mozambique Elections: Matola recount suspended by District Elections Commission appeal to Constitutional Court

As elsewhere, the leadership of the CEC is Frelimo, and six opposition members of the CEC have in turn submitted an appeal to the Constitutional Council asking that an appeal submitted unilaterally by its chair, Carolina Obadias Matavele Cumbane, be declared null and void because “the decision was not approved at an ordinary session of the body.” The decisions of electoral bodies are collegial and must be discussed and approved in ordinary session, in accordance with a CNE 2018 resolution. However, the six members claim that the CEC never met to decide on the appeal to the CC.

“The appeal lodged (by the president) was not the result of a decision by the CEC that deliberates and authorises the body to carry out a certain act,” the CEC members state in their appeal.

In fact, the six signatories of the appeal accuse the president of usurping the functions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is responsible for “representing the state before the courts and defending the interests determined by law”.

The six members of the CEC are also calling for its chair to be removed from office “due to her demonstrated lack of “due to her demonstrated lack of capacity to lead a body as important as the CEC”.

The city of Matola has three district courts (Matola Sede, Machava and Infulene) and the CEC chair’s argument is that the Matola District Court cannot decide on the recounting of votes throughout the whole city of Matola, which is the exclusive competence of the CNE and CC. She also claims that the judgement is not signed or stamped, which makes it null and void. Finally, she argues that the MDM’s appeal was out of time, since it was submitted 72 hours later, when the law stipulates 48 hours.

The Frelimo party also filed an appeal yesterday (Sunday, 22 October) challenging the ruling of the Matola District Court on the grounds that the court was not competent to decide on the vote recount. largely following the line of the CEC chair. Frelimo’s appeal may also be untimely, since it was filed more than 96 hours after the court’s decision (18 October).

Frelimo has always governed Matola. The results of the parallel count by the Mais Integridade Consortium show that Renamo won with 59% of the vote against 34% for Frelimo (Bulletin 160). Renamo is also fighting on the legal front. The decision now rests with the CC.

ALSO READ: Renamo wins in Maputo and Matola, parallel counts show – CIP Mozambique Elections

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Source: Centro de Integridade Pública - CIP