Mozambique: MDM gives up appealing election results

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Mozambique: MDM gives up appealing election results

3:04 CAT | 05 Nov 2019

File photo: DW

The Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) has abandoned its appeal process against the results of the general election, saying it is a “waste of time” because “justice is captured”.

“We have given up on appealing the results of the general election” to the Constitutional Council (CC) “because it would be a waste of time”, and justice “is captured by Frelimo [Mozambican Liberation Front], the MDM secretary general José Domingos told Lusa.

Mozambique’s third-largest parliamentary party said it did not recognise the election results, alleging widespread fraud. But Domingos said opposition appeals over the actions of Mozambique’s electoral bodies were doomed to failure, because the country’s judicial institutions routinely focus on formal issues at the expense of substance.

“Opposition appeals are never favourably received by the judiciary because they cling to procedural aspects and never to [the] content [of appeals],” he said.

Although it did not appeal to the CC, which is the highest body ruling on the performance of Mozambique’s electoral bodies, the MDM did file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) on Friday about the circulation of ballot papers outside polling stations, Domingos revealed.

“We know that won’t succeed either, but we went to the PGR to demand that it investigate the source of ballot papers originating outside normal electoral body channels,” he said.

Renamo has already appealed

The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party, has also appealed the results of the October 15 general elections, after similarly declaring that it did not recognise the results and calling for a new election.

The results announced by Mozambique’s National Election Commission (CNE) on October 27 in Maputo saw President Filipe Nyusi re-elected for a second term in the first round with 73% of the vote.

Frelimo elected 184 of the 250 parliamentary deputies (73.6% of the seats), more than two thirds of the Chamber. Renamo saw 60 deputies elected (24%) and the MDM six (2.4%).

Several election observers raised questions and concerns about the vote. CNE President Abdul Carimo last week expressed “concern” about “some irregularities”, saying when announcing the results that he could not describe the general elections as “free, fair and transparent”.

“We have done everything necessary to make sure he elections run as smoothly and as cleanly as possible,” he said, while noting that the judgement on the freedom, fairness and transparency of scrutiny would be made by the CC when it proclaims the official results in the next weeks.

Source: Deutsche Welle