Mozambique: Renamo denounces irregularities in the Niassa voter registration process

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Mozambique: Renamo denounces irregularities in the Niassa voter registration process

2:31 CAT | 30 Apr 2018

Missing official document stamps and the hiring of ineligible citizens in voter registration in Niassa are features of the “anticipated fraud” and irregularities denounced by Mozambique’s largest opposition party.

Voter registration for the October 10 municipal elections started just over a month ago, and already there are allegations of irregularities in Cuamba district, Niassa province.

The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) says that non-accredited citizens were hired for the process, and that citizens of Nampula and Zambézia currently residing in Cuamba are being banned from registering, allegedly because they are Renamo supporters.

João Muchane, Renamo district political delegate, says that official document stamps have gone missing from some voter registration posts.

“All the material is in the post, and is controlled by the supervisor. How can a stamp disappear? Another issue of regret is the hiring of uncredited citizens at the voter registration posts. I am talking about secretaries, community leaders,” he explains.

Renamo already expected irregularities

Muchane says that irregularities were expected, and refers to the situation as “anticipated fraud”.

“I consider it anticipated fraud. We were expecting controversy in this electoral process – all the way to the vote. They are already able to steal the stamps, they can bring people from other districts or from out of the municipality altogether,” he told DW.

Guilherme Xavier, district director of the Technical Secretariat for the Electoral Administration in Cuamba, says he is unaware of the alleged stamp theft reported by Renamo.

“In my office there are no complaints about the disappearance of stamps. If I had a document in writing, I could respond to it, but at the moment I am not in a position to tell you something I do not know,” Xavier says.

At a press conference in Maputo about a month ago, Renamo warned of “anticipated electoral fraud”, the party’s national representative, André Majibire, complaining of the alleged transfer of public officials to register in towns and cities where the local elections are to take place. Officials have not yet responded to the allegations.

Voter registration began on March 19 and runs throughout the country until May 17.

Source: Deutsche Welle