Renamo files criminal complaints, will appeal CC ruling – Watch | Mozambique Elections

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Renamo files criminal complaints, will appeal CC ruling – Watch | Mozambique Elections

8:59 CAT | 27 Nov 2023

Screen grab: Venancio Mondlane/Facebook

Renamo promises to file an extraordinary appeal to annul the CC’s judgement that validated the ballot.

“The Constitutional Council’s rulings are unappealable if they don’t jeopardise fundamental rights. But when the rulings jeopardise fundamental rights, others must prevail over this one. This is the basis of Renamo’s grounds for annulling this judgement”

Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, on Monday filed two criminal lawsuits against the police commander and the head of the country’s state television broadcaster Televisão de Mozambique, accusing them of using disproportionate force and manipulating public opinion during the elections, respectively.

“We are here to submit a criminal case against the general commander of the police, Bernardino Rafael, for all breaches of the law, namely the basic violation of human rights,” Venâncio Mondlane, Renamo’s candidate for Maputo city, told the media outside the public prosecutor’s office, minutes after submitting the criminal cases.

In the writ, the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party, accuses the Mozambican police of excessive and disproportionate violence in some skirmishes during the election campaign and in the marches that the party organised to contest the results of the local elections on 11 October, episodes which, according to the political force, led to at least one death.

In addition to the commander-general of the police, Renamo filed another criminal case against Élio Jonasse, head of Televisão de Mozambique (TVM), accusing the state broadcaster of having manipulated public opinion.

“TVM was announcing partial results long before the intermediate tabulation in the districts had been finalised. TVM therefore used false data. It passed on manipulated and adulterated information to the Mozambican people. That’s a criminal offence,” added Venâncio Mondlane.

In addition to these two lawsuits, Renamo promises to sue the directors of the National Electoral Commission and the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration, from the districts to the central level, as well as the Constitutional Council judges themselves, accusing them of having approved results based on false notices.

“The rulings of the Constitutional Council are unappealable, but the counselling judges are held accountable for their decisions. Using false documents to make a public decision is a criminal offence,” the politician added.

Renamo also promises to file an extraordinary appeal to annul the CC’s judgement that validated the ballot, although it admits that the CC’s decisions are unappealable.

“The Constitutional Council’s rulings are unappealable if they don’t jeopardise fundamental rights. But when the rulings jeopardise fundamental rights, others must prevail over this one. This is the basis of Renamo’s grounds for annulling this judgement,” he added.

On Friday, the CC proclaimed the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) the winner of the 11 October municipal elections in 56 municipalities, against the previous 64, with Renamo winning four, and ordered repeat elections in another four.

READ: CIP Mozambique Elections: CC calls for changes to count & courts – nevertheless, crime pays

CIP Mozambique Elections: CC confirms that results approved by CNE are false, but validates election results

CC confirms mega-fraud, names Renamo winner in 4 more cities, but not in Maputo – CIP Mozambique Elections

According to the unanimously approved judgement, read out over the course of an hour and 45 minutes by the president of the CC, Counsellor Judge Lúcia Ribeiro, Frelimo maintained its victory in the country’s two main cities, Maputo and Matola, in which the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) claimed victory, despite cutting the total attributed to the ruling party by tens of thousands of votes.

The CC is the body of last resort in electoral justice with the power to validate elections in Mozambique.

The streets of some Mozambican cities, including Maputo, have been taken over by consecutive demonstrations by the opposition against what they consider to have been a “mega-fraud” in the local elections process and the results announced by the CNE, which have also been strongly criticised by civil society and non-governmental organisations.

Source: Lusa