Renamo: "We are challenging legal thinking in the country" - Mozambique Elections
File photo: Noticias
Angolan opposition party delegates were much better trained than their equivalent in Mozambique – and it made a difference – concluded Mozambique journalists who reported on the 24 August election there. In sharp contrast to Mozambique, Angolan party delegates in polling stations knew how to watch and what to look for, and Unita complaints were well prepared and submitted on time.
In Mozambique, each party has the right to a delegate in the polling station (assembleia de voto) during the voting and during the counting process. But in past elections, delegates of Renamo and smaller opposition parties had little or no training and had little idea how to watch and what type of improper actions they were looking for. Renamo delegates have signed as correct final results sheets (editais) which were manifestly false – for example claiming 100% turnout when it was clear to everyone that few people had voted.
Similarly, opposition complaints are often poorly written and incorrect, and submitted too late.
Can the Mozambican opposition follow the Unita example, and select delegates early and provide serious training? jh
The National Elections Commission (CNE) took office in 2020. Its president is Bishop Carlos Matsinhe, head of the Anglican church of Mozambique. Vice Presidents are Carlos Cauio of Frelimo and Fernando Mazanga of Renamo. The next more important person on the CNE is the head of the Electoral Operations Committee and that post was controversially filled in May when Frelimo named Mario Ernesto, the retired head of operations at STAE.
Ernesto replaces Abilio da Conceiçao Lino Guilherme Diruai, who died on 8 April. That post is held by a Frelimo CNE member. Ernesto had been in the second more important post in STAE for more than a decade. STAE is supposed to be neutral, but was sometimes accused by the opposition of being biased toward Frelimo. Some will take his appointment by Frelimo to a top CNE role as confirmation of the earlier accusations and of his senior standing in the party. Ernesto is also a deputy commissioner in the police reserves. (Noticias 13 May)
Renamo has always demanded a politicised CNE, saying that no one is neutral in Mozambique. The CNE has 17 members, of whom 10 are nominated by parliamentary parties, based on the representation in the 2010-2014 parliament, which gives 5 Frelimo, 4 Renamo and 1 MDM. There are also 7 members nominated by civil society but chosen by the party members of the CNE, and thus usually reflecting the same party mix. Currently there are 3 sympathetic to Frelimo, 2 sympathetic to Renamo, and 2 floating. There is also a nominee of government, who can speak and is relator of a committee, but cannot vote.
The President of the CNE is always civil society sympathetic to Frelimo.
The full table of CNE members is HERE.
By Centro de Integridade Pública (CIP https://www.cipmoz.org) and Joseph Hanlon [email protected]
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.