Mozambique: Mondlane, ex-presidents of Colombia, Botswana stopped at Luanda airport
Latest on Mozambique Elections: The main events so far today, Friday October 11
4:58 CAT | 12 Oct 2018
Photo: Ricardo Tomás / Facebook
The counting of votes from Wednesday’s municipal elections continues. STAE has already announced Frelimo victories in 32 municipalities, Renamo’s in six and the MDM’s in one. There are other municipalities for which there are no official updates.
All updates Maputo time
The main events so far:
– Vote counting continues. Results should begin to be released today by district polling stations, rather than on the Internet.
– In Montepuez, Cabo Delgado, there were clashes between police and Renamo supporters who claimed victory in the municipality.
– STAE has announced Frelimo victories in 32 municipalities, Renamo‘s in six and the MDM’s in one municipality (Beira).
– NGOs monitoring the process say that Renamo is in a position to win 10 or more municipalities.
- Find a partial summary of the first day of the count here:
16:15 The Police of the Republic of Mozambique in Tete deny the presence of an armoured vehicle outside Renamo headquarters in Tete city. Spokesperson Lurdes Ferreira explained a moment ago in a telephone conversation with DW, that “there is not a vehicle [armoured] parked at Renamo headquarters, what is happening is that the [armoured] vehicles are circulating around the city because we have information which is not good”.
Asked about the nature of the information, Lurdes Ferreira said “I cannot say what the information is, but the PRM is now strengthening its presence on the ground”.
16:01 The atmosphere is tense in the city of Tete. A military armoured vehicle is currently circulating through the streets of the city of Tete, which is expected to be experiencing ‘agitation’ in the next few hours, says DW Africa correspondent Amos Zacarias.
Renamo called a press conference for this afternoon where it says it will talk about the delay in publicising the results, but it is also expected to react to the moment in the city.
Just a few minutes ago, Ricardo Tomás, Renamo head of list in tete, wrote in his Facebook account, that the headquarters of the party was under strong police watchman, in an armoured vehicle. On the other hand, Ricardo said that since yesterday he has received threats from strangers who accuse him of ‘agitating’ his party members.
On the other hand, Tomás denounces the presence of a military armoured vehicle in front of the political delegation of his party at the level of the city of Tete, a place that some days ago was the target of an invasion by the police.
15:42 Renamo says that the elections were not free, fair and transparent, and that there was fraud, our Maxixe correspondent Luciano da Conceição reports. Spokesman José Manteigas told DW Africa today that “there was fraud in all municipalities and not only Inhambane”. He gave several examples to support this claim: “We discovered vehicles transporting people residing outside the areas where elections were held to vote, for example, in Massinga municipality, the banning of our candidate delegates at voting tables, vote stuffing at the polls, names missing in registers and misinterpretation of the electoral law by the local bodies”.
Manteigas anticipates that Renamo may at any time take a decision on the elections that have just taken place, but said that in some municipalities it would not agree with the results.
15:20 The Mozambican Youth Parliament released videos of unrest in Montepuez (below).
15:05 The District Electoral Commission (CDE) and STAE’s Electronic Platform announce contradictory results in Monapo municipality in Nampula, according to the Sala da Paz.
The STAE website says that Renamo won in Monapo with 49.16% of the votes, against Frelimo’s 45.38%. The CDE announced that Frelimo obtained 43% against Renamo’s 42%. Sala da Paz contacted STAE Central spokesperson Cláudio Langa, who said he had no knowledge of the difference in reporting and promised to speak again later.
CDE e Plataforma electrónica do STAE divulgam resultados contrários em Monapo, Nampula. Segundo o STAE a RENAMO venceu as eleições autárquicas em Monapo, 49.16%, contra 45.38% da Frelimo.A CDE anunciou que a FRELIMO obteve 43% contra 42 da RENAMO. pic.twitter.com/8ApXRA6Bho
— Txeka (@TxekaMoz) October 12, 2018
14:52 Renamo’s head of list in Matola municipality declared victory in the city with 48.8% of the vote, noting that he was awaiting confirmation by the electoral bodies.
The District Election Commission in Matola city has not yet announced the results of Wednesday’s vote, but must do so today by 6:00 p.m. Maputo time, according to electoral law.
Renamo’s head of list for Matola, António Muchanga, said that the party came to the conclusion that it had won based on the counting of the electoral results issued and posted by the polling stations [editais] and provided by the electoral bodies, in compliance with the law.
Muchanga said that the parallel count made by his party placed Frelimo in second place in Matola with 124,477 votes, corresponding to 46.86%, and MDM in third with just over ten thousand votes, corresponding to 3.96%.
14:44 Newspaper O Pais carried the following news about the race in Matola:
Política
Renamo declara-se vencedor da autarquia da Matola com 133.059 votos#renamo #declaracao #matola #opaisonline #opais #gruposoicohttps://t.co/rvYlV48VIb pic.twitter.com/ZmAgAmBXnn— O País Online (@opaisonline) October 12, 2018
Renamo claims victory in Matola with 133,059 votes – Mozambique elections #Mozambiquehttps://t.co/u8W1Qg3BBs pic.twitter.com/3eVtk4sxFH
— Club of Mozambique (@clubOmozambique) October 12, 2018
14: 33 The Sala da Paz platform urges electoral bodies on its Facebook page to disseminate results in all municipalities as soon as possible, so as not to tarnish an electoral process that has so far been considered positive.
The electoral monitoring platform welcomes the performance of the electoral administration bodies at all stages of the process, especially its efforts to speed up the publication of results and the creation of software for their dissemination on their website.
It did however regret the slowness with which the platform had been updated.
14:20 CIP reports Renamo discontent in Cabo Delgado:
Manifestação da Renamo em Montepuez em contestação de resultados Renamo em #Montepuez rejeita os resultados provisórios que dao vantagem a #Frelimo (51.78%), a Renamo (43.77%) e MDM teve 4.45 %. s simpatizantes da Renamo alegam que o resultado da Frelimo foi por via de fraude. pic.twitter.com/Mf5JZ2Rzwo
— CIP Eleições (@CIP_Eleicoes) October 12, 2018
14:10 Police in Cabo Delgado confirmed the occurrence of riots in Montepuez and Mocímboa da Praia municipalities, according to DW Pemba correspondent Delfim Anacleto, who says disaffected Renamo supporters went to the residence of the Renamo heads of list there to demand an explanation for their defeat in the municipalities.
Members believe that the heads of the list “sold votes to Frelimo” and assaulted them accordingly. Police intervened In both incidents and dispersed the demonstrators. Some Renamo supporters are being detained and others received medical treatment.
13:50 On Saturday, Renamo will hold a victory march in the city of Nampula. According to a statement sent to DW correspondent Sitoi Lutxeque, the march will begin at 9:00 a.m. at provincial headquarters and cover almost every street in the city. Renamo’s structures promise that the march will be peaceful.
13:36 Renamo was unable to count votes in Nampula because several of its delegates were detained, the provincial leader of the largest opposition party told reporters. Gloria Salvador said that “there were many police assaults in Ribaué”.
13:17 STAE spokesperson Cláudio Langa has told Lusa that Internet counts were only updated on Thursday morning until the provisional results were released by the national bodies of CNE and STAE, and it was now up to the district organs to announce them. Only after that would the results be fully aggregated nationally, “which is expected to happen within two weeks,” another source linked to the process explained.
13:01 Meanwhile, electoral authorities have already released results from several municipalities where Frelimo has won. Criticism increases throughout the country and also in social networks…
Impressionante como os nossos orgaos eleitorais tem dados ja processados dos municipios que a #Frelimo ganhou. E a #Renamo? MDM? #Autarquicas2018 https://t.co/vN7WrODfi9
— Alexandre Zerinho (@AllexandreMZ) October 12, 2018
12:31 CNE spokesman Paulo Cuinica told Lusa that it had been decided that the announcing of results would follow the procedure used in previous elections and pass through the electoral administration bodies. The joint STAE/CNE website continues to show no change since Thursday, with 21 of the 53 municipalities counted.
12:15 Renamo says that the delay in disclosing partial results in municipalities where it is at an advantage is clearly “attempted fraud”. Renamo’s representative, André Majibire, told the DW Maputo correspondent Romeo da Silva that there was an “attempt to introduce false ‘editais'[results notices issued by polling stations]” and gave the example of Alto Molócué, in Zambézia, where “STAE was carrying two envelopes with ‘editais’ [notices] of 500 voters “. Renamo also condemned the disappearance of a computer with data on the elections in the same municipality. Majibire also alleges the involvement of the police in the disappearance of a kit containing unprocessed voting material.
12:06 In Moatize, journalist and editor of the weekly Malacha Aparicio de Nascimento has gone into hiding after having been threatened with kidnapping for having released the results of all polling stations in the municipality on the newspaper’s Facebook page.
According to MISA-Mozambique, the journalist decided to leave his home in the village of Moatize after being warned that a WhatsApp group was say that he should be abducted. Aparicio do Nascimento told DW that he was well and calm. MISA issued a statement “firmly condemning this act of intimidation” and expressing its concern.
11:50 The district election committee of Quelimane has just confirmed the provisional victory of Renamo and its head of list, Manuel de Araújo. Renamo leads with 55.5% of votes, followed by Frelimo with 33.9% and MDM with 3.8%. The results should have been announced last night, bit this was not possible “for organisational reasons”, the election commission said.
The chairman of the Quelimane district election commission, Zacarias Inacio, said the elections were free, fair and transparent despite some flare-ups between party supporters and the rapid intervention unit and the disappearance of ballot boxes at some voting tables.
Quelimane in numbers: 1,919 blank votes, 2,891 null votes, 4,331 abstentions in a total of 124,126 registered voters.
11:35 And while STAE’s silence over Moatize and Tete City prevails, tension increases among the citizens who want to know the official results of the vote. Frelimo calls on its members to exercise “calmness and serenity” until results are released by the competent bodies. “We will continue to monitor those who want to create disturbances in our city, and they will pay for any vandalism,” Frelimo spokesman Domingos Macajo warned.
11:05 Renamo is also ahead in the village of Monapo, in the province of Nampula. “The District Election Commission is doing everything [in its power] to award victory to Frelimo,” Canal de Moçambique writes. “The president of the District Election Commission does not want to announce the result, and says he wants to send the edictais [notices] to the Provincial Commission in Nampula,” the newspaper says, reporting closed-door meetings between STAE, the District Elections Commission and members of the Frelimo party.
10:53 At this time, the CNE and STAE website still lacks new data on the results of the local elections held on Wednesday. Criticism of the electoral authorities continues. “This way of working does not lend the elections credibility, but rather generates suspense and distrust,” journalist Emildo Sambo of the newspaper @Verdade, DW’s partner, writes.
10:34 “How is it possible that the Sala da Paz in Nampula has already finished its independent count and STAE has not yet?” a Mozambican voter asks in a message sent to DW by WhatsApp. “The numbers that we have so far of the voting tables already processed indicate that Frelimo has 32.80%, MDM has 5% and Renamo 56%. We do not believe that this number will change,” said Juma Aiuba, spokesman for the platform of civil society observers in Nampula.
10:08 There are reports of clashes between the police and supporters of Renamo in Montepuez municipality, Cabo Delgado, with Renamo supporters contesting results showing Frelimo ahead. A subject that is being monitored on the ground by the DW Africa correspondent Delfim Anacleto Uatanle. Renamo claims victory in this municipality.
09:58 In Tete, Frelimo has just denied Renamo’s victory in the city’s municipal council, proclaimed on Thursday by the main opposition party. “It is a lie that Renamo has won the elections in the city of Tete. Information we have through our representatives in the electoral bodies indicates that 80% of the voting tables have been processed and Frelimo is ahead,” Frelimo spokesman Domingos Macajo told reporters. Asked by DW if there are numbers to substantiate this claim, Macajo simply said that his party “is at an advantage”.
09:45 AM DW Português for Africa’s Facebook page shows many comments on the local elections. Warsaw Julius, for example, believes that the data “are already processed, but they do not want to publish them because Renamo has won in most of the municipalities of the north and centre of the country, including Matola”.
09:36 The Sala da Paz’s parallel count also gives Renamo the lead in Marromeu, Sofala, with just half the votes counted.
09:22 In a press conference on Thursday, the CNE and STAE congratulated themselves “for the orderly and peaceful manner in which the elections took place”. But official figures continue to be released drop by drop and in some municipalities – such as Nampula, Pemba or Tete – there is still no update on the electoral authorities’ web page.
09:06 Electoral coverage of the media has been praised. “Another positive note in the voting is the participation of the media, which covered the event and sent residents information and data in real time,” a report released on Thursday by the Sala da Paz, a network of Mozambican nongovernmental organisations monitoring the process, reads.
08:52 Renamo has won in the territory of Ossufo Momade, the party’s interim leader, CIP investigator Borges Nhamire says on Facebook.
“By coincidence or by conscience, voters in the province of Nampula, the birthplace of Ossufo Momade, voted for Renamo. Renamo wins: 1 – City of Nampula, 2 – Nacala, 3 – Monapo, 4 – Angoche, 5 – Ilha de Moçambique, 6 – Malema. To make the full set, only Ribaue was missing. Ossufo Momade emerges from these elections strengthened. The Macua – the most extensive but ever-excluded ethnic group in the country – now feel represented in power,” he writes.
Source: Deutsche Welle
Show comments
Also read
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.