Mozambique: Ruling party proposes changes in electoral law after Nampula by-election

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Mozambique: Ruling party proposes changes in electoral law after Nampula by-election

1:44 CAT | 01 Feb 2018

File photo: Caifadine Manasse

The Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo), Mozambique’s ruling party, yesterday called for changes in the law to prevent electoral processes such as the by-election held in Nampula municipality, becoming “onerous processes”.

“The situation in the country, and our aspirations, shows that we have to reflect on our electoral law,” Frelimo spokesman Caifadine Manasse said.

At issue is the vote a week ago, in which no candidate reached 50 percent of the vote, precipitating a second round of voting with less than eight months to go before municipal elections nationwide.

“The country needs these funds for other purposes,” Manasse said, adding that his party would respect the law and was ready for a run-off in the race for the major of Mozambique’s third-largest city.

Democracy costs money

Renamo, Mozambique’s main opposition party, says the country must be ready for situations like this, noting that “democracy costs money”.

“The law is not negotiable. If there is no clear winner, we have to go to the second round and so it will be,” Renamo’s André Madjibire said.

It was necessary to ensure that the process was fair and transparent, something which the electoral bodies involved in the Nampula vote had failed to do, Madjibire said.

“We had many cases of irregularities in this process. In addition to the problems with the electoral rolls, we had cases of polling stations where officials had briefcases, which we know is illegal,” he said.

The president of the National Elections Commission (CNE), Abdul Carimo, announced the official results of the Nampula by-election yesterday, giving Frelimo candidate Amisse Cololo 44.5% of the votes, followed by Renamo candidate, Paulo Vahanle, with 40.32%.

Carlos Saíde, of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique, the party that previously governed the municipality, obtained 10.10% of the votes, followed by Mário Albino, of AMUSI-Acção Movimento Unido Para Salvação Integral, with 4.27% and Filomena Mutoropa, of the Humanitarian Party of Mozambique, Pahumo, with 0.80%.

The CNE president did not respond to questions from journalists about criticism of last week’s electoral process, nor about the next steps in the municipal election process.

A spokeswoman for Mozambique’s Council of Ministers said on Tuesday that it was awaiting communication from the electoral management bodies to rule on a second round of voting.