Mozambique: Journalists assaulted in Marromeu election re-run

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Mozambique: Journalists assaulted in Marromeu election re-run

11:43 CAT | 23 Nov 2018

Photo: DW

Journalists were beaten during the re-run of the municipal elections in Marromeu, central Mozambique, although the authorities say the voting took place in an orderly fashion. Renamo leads in the counting of votes.

The re-run of the municipal election in Marromeu municipality in Sofala province on Thursday (22.11) was marked by assaults on journalists and the arrest of Frelimo supporters for alleged possession of multiple or fake voter cards.

Polling stations closed at 1:00 a.m. without even posting of result sheets on the walls, reports the DW Africa correspondent in the region.

Jordane Nhane, a journalist for the weekly Zambeze, said that he had been threatened by a group of Frelimo electoral observers earlier in the evening. “I was surprised by a supposed Frelimo group who was assaulting journalists here. I’m not the first case: it happened to an STV cameraman and also to a journalist from Radio Mozambique. I am the third victim in a day, in two voting stations. Imagine if it was a whole district … ,” he said.

The Radio Mozambique team ended up abandoning coverage for fearing of reprisals. Journalist Francisco Raiva, from private television channel STV, declined to give an interview but confirmed that he was assaulted by an alleged secret police agent while trying to report an irregularity.

Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) representative André Magibiri called for his inspectors and journalists barred from polling stations without reason to remain calm.

“Orderly voting”

The director of the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE), Augusto Sande, however maintained that voting had taken place in an orderly manner. “The process took place in an orderly and peaceful manner, and there was a great turnout in the polling stations until around 12 o’clock, and in the beginning of the afternoon we again had another big surge,” he said.

The 56 polling station chiefs were carefully instructed by STAE to guard against the riots registered during the October 10 election being repeated. In the first round, riots involving members and supporters of the competing political parties culminated in the intervention of the police.

Marromeu.election1.dw_

Throughout Thursday, the various teams of observers monitoring the process pointed out various problems, which were later corrected.

Marromeu voters were called to the polls a second time following the cancellation of the October 10 ballot by the Constitutional Council, which discovered irregularities in calculating of the results, including the alleged disappearance of ballot boxes.

This Thursday’s counting process, already completed at five of the eight polling stations, put Renamo is in the lead. Counting at the three remaining polling stations came to a halt and, with no consensus among the parties, the STAE entered the stations with police support, collected the voting material and left.

Renamo filed a complaint with the police when its attempt to negotiate with the STAE proved fruitless.

Source: Deutsche Welle