Mozambique: CNE concerned at violations of election law – AIM report

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Mozambique: CNE concerned at violations of election law – AIM report

9:29 CAT | 16 Sep 2019

Photo: Sala da Paz

Mozambique’s National Elections Commission (CNE) on Saturday expressed concern at the number of violations of the electoral laws that have been reported in the first fortnight of the campaign leading up to the general and provincial elections scheduled for 15 October.

Speaking in Maputo at a meeting with representatives of the competing political parties, CNE chairperson Abdul Carimo claimed that so far 33 cases of electoral crimes have been recorded (which, judging by media reports, is a serious underestimate).

“We regard with great concern some situations which are occurring outside the law, and which, given our level of democratic maturity, cannot be justified”, he said.

He said the illegal acts included the destruction of election posters of competing parties (reported in Niassa, Nampula, Zambezia, Tete, Gaza and Maputo provinces), the violation of freedom of assembly (in Nampula, Gaza and Maputo), physical assaults (in Nampula, Sofala and Maputo), and clashes when the motorcades of competing parties cross paths.

Carimo also mentioned the incidents which led to loss of life – though these all seem to have been tragic accidents. The most serious was the death of ten people last Wednesday in a crush at the exit from a Frelimo rally in the northern city of Nampula. The police are looking into the exact causes of this tragedy.

Traffic accidents during the campaign, in Cabo Delgado and Manica, Carimo added, have caused the deaths of four people, and serious injuries to another four.

He also tackled the reports of individuals, allegedly from the ruling Frelimo Party, collecting voter cards from citizens for unclear reasons. Carimo stressed that no political party has any right to collect voter cards.

Carimo urged the political parties to obey the parameters of the law, ethics and responsibility for the rest of the election campaign (which ends on 13 October), and thus ensure that the campaign is indeed a festive moment.

“Let this be a stage of concord, tolerance and the acceptance of party colours and opinions that are different from our own, and not a stage of separation, violence and bloodshed”, he declared.

Political parties, he said, should obey the law and the code of conduct which they have signed. Democracy and political freedom, he added, are gains of the democratic rule of law.

Source: AIM