Electoral material stolen in Ile, Zambézia: 15 ballot boxes, 24 electoral officials’ vests – report

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Electoral material stolen in Ile, Zambézia: 15 ballot boxes, 24 electoral officials’ vests – report

11:57 CAT | 09 Oct 2018

Photo: O País

Two weeks after the establishment of the STAE electoral commissions in Mozambique’s districts in preparation for the October 10 elections, unidentified individuals have broken into the STAE (Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration) offices in Ile in Zambézia and stole election materials used in the 2014 general elections.

According to the STAE district director, 15 ballot boxes and 24 vests for polling stations staff members working at voting tables. The stolen items had been used in the 2014 elections and were stored in the warehouse were stolen on the night of September 29.

Rafael Arcanjo Pedro, the police commander in Ile, said he had called the STAE’s attention to the lack of security at the premises, highlighting the absence of locks on all the doors, but the STAE had ignored his warnings.

“I think that there was a serious communication problem here,” Pedro said. “When the STAE intended to occupy the premises, they came to ask the police to check the security conditions. I personally went there with my men, and we found that there was no security. There were no locks on the doors, let alone the windows,” he recalls. Such incidents were not common in the village.

Ile district administrator Onório Vaz said that it was unusual for an institution located in one of the relatively safe areas of the village, just a few metres distant from the District Administration building itself, to be targeted for this type of robbery. Asked whether it was not strange that the episode occurred on the eve of the local elections, Vaz said that at this point it was important not to rule out any hypothesis, but that he preferred to leave the matter in the hands of the authorities.

It should be noted that the Ile district STAE has more than twenty employees working for it.

By Jersild Chirindza

Source: O País