Mozambique: Chapo calls for “speeches of love, not hatred”
Mozambique Elections: Mondlane-led CAD coalition to protest against ruling blocking candidates – Watch
1:46 CAT | 23 Jul 2024
Photo: CAD
The Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD), which supports the candidacy of Venâncio Mondlane for president of Mozambique, on Tuesday announced plans for a “peaceful march” for Saturday against a ruling barring it from putting up candidates for parliament in the October general elections, having already appealed the decision to the Constitutional Council.
“If the Constitutional Council does not restore the truth, in accordance with the law, it will be unquestionable proof of the inoperability of the laws in the country and that we would be facing a failed state,” said CAD president Manecas Daniel at a news conference in Maputo.
If the council upholds the decision of the National Electoral Commission (CNE), Daniel promised, the CAD will give the floor back to the population, recognising that “tempers are at their highest level” and that there is a “ticking time bomb” waiting to explode.
“It’s up to the people to decide in the best way,” said Daniel, expressing the hoe that the Constitutional Council will “restore legality and truth.”
The CAD leader also called for a “peaceful national and international march” on Saturday 27 July, starting at 2 p.m., “against the violation of the basic rights of the Mozambican people, which are to elect and be elected [tha were] violated by the CNE”.
The CNE excluded CAD from the general elections on 9 October because it did not meet the legal requirements, the electoral body announced on 18 July.
“The closed plurinominal lists of candidacies of the Democratic Alliance Coalition are rejected because they do not fulfil the legal requirements for submitting candidacies, which results in the nullity of their candidacy process,” said Paulo Cuinica, spokesperson for the CNE, as he read out the deliberation, by consensus, on the verification of the candidacies received.
The CAD president said that an appeal to annul this decision has already been filed with the Constitutional Council, insofar as it involves the coalition, guaranteeing that it fulfils all the requirements and that it filed the appeal within the deadlines, in addition to the fact that it has already passed the phase of registration for the elections – in which it was registered – and that this respected the approval of the candidate lists.
According to the CAD president, the CNE “lied to the Mozambican people” by saying that the coalition “does not fulfil the requirements” to run.
“It seeks at all costs to harm those who in its view are a threat to its stomach,” he said.
“The CNE is the cause of the conflicts in Mozambique,” he went on, guaranteeing that since its foundation in 2018, the CAD “has participated in all elections along the same lines.”
The CNE earlier denied political reasons for rejecting the CAD, arguing that the decision “is purely technical”.
“Regarding whether this is a political decision or a technical decision, it is a purely technical decision: it has to do with the law, the law prescribes it and the law has not been complied with by those who should comply,” said a CNE spokesman, Paulo Cuinica.
With this decision, Mondlane, a former member of parliament for the main opposition party, Renamo, cannot stand again for parliament, but remains in the running for the presidency.
“The rejection of CAD’s candidacy has to do with the process of submitting candidacies, because between registration and the submission of candidacies there were supervening events and CAD didn’t need to do anything other than notify the Ministry of Justice and publish it in the Official Gazette,” emphasised Cuinica.
He was referring to the signing of a coalition agreement between the parties that make up the CNE, which, by law, must be communicated to the Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs.
The CNE spokesman noted that the legal formalities required in the application process for a coalition are tighter than those imposed on a political party, and emphasised that the legal flaws and omissions made on the part of the CAD are “essential and very important” and thus resuted in the list being struck down.
Presidential elections are to take place at the same time as the legislative elections and those for governors and provincial assemblies on 9 October.
Source: Lusa
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