Mozambique Elections: Constitutional Council rejects three Renamo appeals – AIM

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Mozambique Elections: Constitutional Council rejects three Renamo appeals – AIM

7:00 CAT | 27 Oct 2023

File photo: O País

The Constitutional Council, Mozambique’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, on Wednesday rejected three appeals from the main opposition party, Renamo against the preliminary results from the municipal elections held on 11 October.

Renamo hoped to overturn the results in the municipalities of Xai-Xai and Mandlakazi, in Gaza Province, and in Manhica, about 90 kilometres north of Maputo.

The Manhica appeal was easily dealt with. Renamo had submitted the appeal too late for it to be considered. The electoral law states that an appeal must be submitted within 48 hours of the declaration of the results.

According to the Constitutional Council, the Manhica District Elections Commission announced the preliminary results at 21.15 on Friday, 13 October. But Renamo only submitted its appeal on Monday, 16 October, and so missed the 48 hour deadline.

Renamo seems to have believed that Saturdays and Sundays do not count towards the 48 hours. But the Council declared that the 48 hours is a continual period, without any interruptions for weekends.

Under Mozambican legislation, electoral issues are treated as matters of priority. “The urgency that electoral procedures impose on the Electoral Administration, on the courts and on the Constitutional Council, is not compatible with delays of any kind”, said the Council’s ruling.

So the Manhica deadline expired at 22.00 on Sunday, 15 October. Renamo was simply too late.

But even if Renamo had met the deadline, its appeal would still not have been considered, since there was no sign of any “prior challenge”.

That is, before approaching the Constitutional Council, the party concerned must first have protested at a lower body, such as the polling station where the irregularities took place, or the District Elections Commission.

But there was no evidence that Renamo had made any “prior challenge”, but had resorted directly to the Constitutional Council.

This was why the Council rejected the appeals in the cases of Xai-Xai and Mandlakazi. In both municipalities, Renamo had not challenged the results before submitting its appeal to the Council

“Prior challenge is a requirement for any electoral act of procedure to be appealed against”, said the Council ruling in the Xai-Xai case. “It is a condition for the admission of an appeal”.

An electoral appeal is always intended to change a decision taken by an electoral body, the Council argued, but Renamo did not mention any specific decision.

Had Renamo submitted a protest to a lower body, the Council claimed, it would have been obliged to respond, and then Renamo could have appealed.

The Constitutional Council also rejected an appeal by the Chairperson of the KaMavota Municipal District Elections Commission in Maputo, against the decision of the district court to order a recount of the votes in KaMavota.

The Commission chair had argued that the court did not have the authority to order a recount, but the Constitutional Council retorted that the appeal could not be accepted because the Commission chair is not “a person directly and effectively prejudiced by the decision”.

So for the moment, the decision to hold a recount in KaMavota stands. But that may change, when the Constitutional Council analyses the KaMavota results.

The district court had accepted the Renamo protest that the results sheets (“editais”) in 185 polling stations had been falsified. The Council said it will take a position on this during its validation of the election results – which can only happen after the National Elections Commission (CNE) has delivered the preliminary results from all 65 municipalities to the Council, probably on Thursday afternoon.

Source: AIM