Mozambique Elections: CNE rejects opposition appeals on voter registration

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Mozambique Elections: CNE rejects opposition appeals on voter registration

2:28 CAT | 19 Jul 2023

FILE - On Monday, the CNE announced that the presentation of candidacies for the municipal elections would take place between the 20th of this month and the 11th of August. [File photo: Notícias]

The Mozambican National Election Commission (CNE) has rejected two appeals by Renamo, in which the country’s main opposition party asked for the annulment of voter registration rolls and contested irregularities in the registration of voters in two municipalities.

In a resolution published on July 6 in the Boletim da República and consulted on Tuesday by Lusa, the CNE dismisses an appeal that the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) submitted for the annulment of voter registration maps in Zambézia province, central Mozambique, rejecting the Renamo appeal “outright”.

The CNE bases its decision on “the active illegitimacy of the complaining subjects”.

The decision was taken with nine votes in favour and six against, the document reveals.

Renamo filed the appeal alleging “material errors” at the level of the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) in Zambézia province, but the electoral body considered the request unfounded, as the alleged anomalies can still be corrected up to 30 days before the vote for the municipal elections on 11 October.

In another resolution, the CNE rejected an appeal in which the main opposition party alleges “irregularities in voter registration” in the municipality of Matola, Maputo province.

Renamo complained that members of the registration posts in that municipality had moved voter registration machines out of authorised places, where they would have been able to carry out registrations without the knowledge of political party inspectors.

In its reasoning, the CNE maintains that the inspectors of the main opposition party should have presented “denunciations and not complaints”, because electoral legislation requires it.

On the other hand, the resolution continues, Renamo does not present “enough elements” to prove the “electoral illicit acts” that it says occurred in electoral registration in the municipality of Matola.

Before the CNE’s deliberations on the appeals was filed, the main opposition party demanded at a press conference the annulment of registration for the October 11 municipal elections.

Voter registration ran from April 20 to June 3, with around 10 million voters being registered.

On Monday, the CNE announced that the presentation of candidacies for the municipal elections would take place between the 20th of this month and the 11th of August.

By July 14th, 23 political parties, coalitions and groups of voters had registered to participate in the ballot, CNE spokesman Paulo Cuinica told a press conference.

In the 2018 municipal elections, Frelimo won 44 of the 53 municipalities, and the opposition only nine.

Source: Lusa