Mozambique: CAD denied access to elections for ‘purely technical reasons’ – Watch

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Mozambique: CAD denied access to elections for ‘purely technical reasons’ – Watch

5:50 CAT | 18 Jul 2024

Photo: CDD Moçambique

Mozambique’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) denied on Thursday any political reasons for rejecting the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD), which supports politician Venâncio Mondlane from the general elections, claiming that the decision “is merely technical”.

“Whether this is a political or technical decision, it is a purely technical decision. It has to do with the law, the law prescribes it, and the law has not been complied with by those who should comply with it,” said CNE spokesman Paulo Cuinica at a press conference in Maputo to announce the political forces that will take part in the general elections on 9 October.

The CNE’s decision regarding the CAD “resulted from the nullity of the candidacy” and “there was unanimity among the members [of the electoral body]; there was no vote,” continued the spokesman.

Paulo Cuinica said that the decision announced today exceeded the planned time because it was necessary to “better scrutinise the arguments”.

Cuinica emphasised that the decision is not aimed at barring the politician Venâncio Mondlane – who has been drawing crowds in his pre-election campaign for President of the Republic – from taking part in the general elections, maintaining that the CNE’s decision is “subject to appeal to the Constitutional Council”.

Mondlane, a former member of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party, is prevented from running for another term in parliament while remaining in the race for the presidency.

“The rejection of CAD’s candidacy has to do with the process of submitting candidacies because between registration and the submission of candidacies, there were supervening events, and CAD didn’t need to do anything other than notify the Ministry of Justice and publish it in the Official Gazette,” emphasised Paulo Cuinica.

He was referring to signing a coalition agreement between the parties that make up the CNE, which, by law, must be communicated to the Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs.

The CNE spokesman said that the legal formalities required in a coalition’s candidacy process are tighter than those imposed on a political party.

Cuinica emphasised that the legal flaws and omissions committed by the CAD are “essential and very important.” These result in nullity, which can be invoked “at any time,” including during the vote.

The question of the political weight of the rejection of CAD’s candidacy has to do with the fact that the CNE is made up of figures appointed by the parties with parliamentary representation, namely the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the ruling party with a majority in parliament), Renamo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM, the third largest political force).

In the decision released today, the CNE states that “the closed plurinominal lists of candidacies of the Democratic Alliance Coalition are rejected because they do not fulfil the legal requirements for the presentation of candidacies, which results in the nullity of their candidacy process”.

According to the same decision, the agreement for forming the CAD was approved on 27 April by the political parties Padres, Palmo, Panade, Partonamo, PNDM, and PRD. However, after submitting missing documentation, the electoral body said that two of these parties were not included in the new agreement without the respective act proving the change, as legally required.

Venâncio Mondlane told Lusa today that the CAD will make “exhaustive” use of all legal resources to contest the CNE’s exclusion from the October general elections.

“Of course, we’re going to do it, without a doubt. If there’s one thing we did throughout the [local elections, when Renamo ran] last year, it was to exhaustively use all the legal possibilities to claim our rights. That was our democratic contribution, and that’s what we’re going to do,” said Mondlane.

The presidential elections will be held simultaneously with the legislative elections and the elections for governors and provincial assemblies.

Source: Lusa