Mozambique: Complaints of irregularities at the Nampula by-election

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Mozambique: Complaints of irregularities at the Nampula by-election

1:10 CAT | 25 Jan 2018

DW / Observer checking the electoral rolls

Political parties and the CIP note irregularities, lack of organisation and other shortcomings in the mayoral by-election in Nampula, but the electoral bodies say that everything went smoothly.

As planned, the polling stations closed at around 6 pm local time, and the counting of votes began. But the vote, according to some political parties, was tainted by many irregularities, including new electoral rolls that did not include the names of many voters.

The complaint was made by Luisa Marroviça, a controller in the process and member of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), the second largest opposition force.

“The political parties have received original electoral rolls from the CNE and we display them, they are on the voting tables, but the president of the voting table and his company have a fake electoral roll. And we confront the rolls we have and we see that they are playing with us.”

“All voters come and go, and those who are voting there are the others that they brought with a false census card, and that cannot happen. We do not want those jokes.”

Mário Albino Muquissice, candidate of the United Movement for Integral Salvation – Nampula (AMUSI) Action, had similar complaints about the way voting had taken place.

Mosambik Nampula - In Malimusse Schule es gab Probleme mit den Wählerlisten — *Problem with electoral rolls at Malimusse Community School, Nampula*

“People cannot find their names [in the electoral roll], but we are going to take the time to solve this problem. We are following each and every case,” he said.

Muquissice was optimistic nonetheless. “We expect to win, despite the massive presence of people from other districts who have come to vote.”

STAE downplays irregularities

One instance of a voter coming from another district occurred at the Malimusse Community School voting station. Unazi Ossumane is the president of the voting table where the irregularity took place and said that the voting process was interrupted many times.

“There are names in our main electoral roll, but delegates do not have those names. We have already spoken to STAE, the Technical Electoral Secretariat, who asked the delegates to put their complaints in writing,” he says.

“I do not understand how you can work like this. When the voters came, we consulted the rolls, but we did not find their names. That’s why the delegates had the table frozen.”

But the CNE director in Nampula, Daniel Ramos, downplayed the situation.

“We are giving a positive evaluation, given the number of people who are on the polls everywhere we go, evaluating the calm that is registered in by those who can’t find their names [on the electoral rolls] – some because at the time the rolls were made public they did not go see whether the names were there or not.”

Image result for Moçambique: Denúncias de irregularidades nas intercalares em Nampula

Low turn-out, says CIP

Meanwhile, the Public Integrity Centre (CIP), a Mozambican non-governmental organisation, complained that the elections were characterised by “disorganisation, delays and low turnout”.

The main reason, the CIP says, was “the delay of the arrival of the material at the polling stations, and also cases of electoral rolls going to the wrong polling stations.”

As a result, there was “confusion” and “some overflow at certain voting tables” that took a long time to open, the CIP notes.

The three parties with parliamentary seats, Frelimo, Renamo and MDM, in addition to AMUSI and PAHUMO, participated in the by-election. The winning candidate will succeed mayor Mahamudo Amurane, shot dead at the door of his house on October 4, 2017.

Provisional results were expected this Thursday (25-01), reported DW but O País this morning that “the Nampula Provincial Elections Commission promises to release partial results of the mayoral by-election by Friday. ‘We are, at the moment, preparing the qualifying session that starts at 12 noon,’ the spokesman said”.

Source: Deutsche Welle / O País