Mozambique Elections: PGR’s response shows that institutions “don’t work” – Renamo

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Mozambique Elections: PGR’s response shows that institutions “don’t work” – Renamo

5:55 CAT | 11 Jan 2024

Photo: O País

The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the largest opposition party, on Wednesday said it considered that the PGR’s response to its appeal to annul the ruling validating the local elections proves that Mozambican institutions “don’t work”.

“This response that the PGR [Attorney General’s Office] gives us is further proof that our institutions here in the country do not work,” Renamo representative Glória Salvador told the media in Maputo.

On Tuesday, Mozambique’s PGR considered Renamo’s request to annul the ruling of the Constitutional Council (CC) that validated the October 11 local elections to be unfounded.

In a note distributed to the media, the PGR informs the “proposing entity that the request for intervention by the Attorney General’s Office is unfounded, due to a lack of legal basis”.

“The position of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is due to the fact that the decisions of the Constitutional Council are not capable of being appealed via this appeal, contrary to what occurs in common jurisdiction,” states the PGR note, which adds that the law does not find “legal support for the possibility of challenging the decisions of this body, through the appeal in question”.

For Renamo, it makes no sense “that nothing more can be done” about the ruling approved by the CC that validates the electoral results, considering that, in addition to not working, the PGR’s response also shows that Mozambican institutions “do not respect the laws”.

The main opposition party says that the PGR “is rubber-stamping” the results proclaimed by the Constitutional Council, considering that the ballot was a “mega-fraud”.

“Everything is in harmony. We know that the system is the same, that the laws are not in charge here, someone is the one who determines. Someone there, the number one of the Frelimo party [in power] is the one who gives orders to everyone,” said Gloria Salvador.

Renamo submitted an extraordinary appeal to annul the CC ruling that validated the October 11 vote in Mozambique, although the party admitted that the CC’s decisions are unappealable.

The CC is the body of the last instance of the electoral justice system with competence to validate elections in Mozambique.

In total, according to a party source, Renamo submitted 14 letters against the results of the October 11 elections.

The sixth municipal elections, in which the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo, in power) was declared the winner in 60 municipalities out of a total of 65, were strongly contested by the opposition, which did not recognize the official results, and by civil society.

Since the announcement of the results by the National Elections Commission (CNE), Renamo has conducted more than 50 protest marches, recording some episodes that culminated in skirmishes between party supporters and police forces, with some people being detained and others wounded.

Renamo claims victory in the country’s largest cities, including Maputo, based on parallel counting through the original minutes and notices, but was declared winner in only four municipalities, half of those it had previously, while the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), third parliamentary political force, maintained the municipality of Beira.

Source: Lusa