Mozambique: MDM elects Lutero Simango as its presidential candidate
Left to right, top to bottom: Daniel Chapo, Ossufo Momade, Lutero Simando and Venancio Mondlane. [Image: Notícias]
The Constitutional Council, Mozambique’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, on Monday announced that it has confirmed the validity of four nominations for the post of President of the Republic, and has rejected seven others.
The four candidates accepted by the Council are:
All four had produced valid identification documents and the required number (between 10,000 and 20,000) supporting signatures from registered voters.
The Council said it has checked each and every one of the supporting signatures, to eliminate any duplications, since no voter may support more than one candidate.
The signatures were also checked against the data base on voter registration, kept by the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat, to ensure that each signature was accompanied by a valid voter card number.
Chapo, Momade, Simango and Mondlane all passed these tests, and their other documents (such as their identity cards and criminal record certificates) were also valid.
As for the seven would-be candidates from minor parties, none of them presented the requisite number of valid signatures.
The Council immediately ruled out both Zucula and Machava.
The other five would-be candidates did seem to present the requisite number of signatures. They were:
But as the Council checked the signatures of these candidates they found that they were riddled with fraud. Some were obviously copies of names or voter card numbers from the electoral roll, with forged signatures.
Others had clearly been written and signed by the same person. Some had no signature at all, or no voter card number, and some had not been recognized by a notary.
Every time there is a presidential election, minor parties try to pull the wool over the eyes of the Constitutional Council by presenting fake signatures. And every time they fail.
The Council said it “condemns vehemently these acts which violate the fundamental right of political participation of citizens”.
Falsifying documents is a crime, but to date nobody has been punished for forging signatures for a presidential election.
READ: Mozambique Elections: Millions of dollars in subsidies for political parties – AIM
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