Mozambique: Thousands of election observers still not accredited – AIM

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Mozambique: Thousands of election observers still not accredited – AIM

12:14 CAT | 11 Oct 2019

Photo: Jornal Moçambique

With just five days to go before Mozambique’s general and provincial elections, thousands of election observers from independent Mozambican civil society organisations still have no credentials.

Questioned about this scandal at a Maputo press conference on Thursday, Claudio Langa, spokesperson for the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), admitted the delay in issuing credentials, but claimed there was “fault on both sides”.

He said some organisations had submitted lists of hundreds of names of observers to the provincial elections commissions (CPEs), but without specifying in which districts they intended to station the observers. When they were asked to add this information they did not reply.

He also claimed some organisations had submitted the same names as journalists and as observers, and again did not reply when asked to correct the list.

But one of the most significant independent organisations, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), categorically denies that these criticisms can apply to its lists. CIP says it submitted its lists for two largest provincial constituencies, Nampula and Zambezia, weeks ago and has received no reply at all.

This is in flagrant violation of the election law, which states that applications by those wishing to observe the elections must receive a reply within five days.

Langa said that to date 19,900 national observers have received credentials. But CIP believes that many of these are not from independent organisations at all, but from groups that are broadly supportive of the ruling Frelimo Party.

The “Mozambique Political Process Bulletin”, published by CIP, has reported that in some provinces applications from Frelimo-aligned bodies are treated rapidly, while those from other organisations are put to one side.

Langa promised to look into the problem, and contact the electoral bodies in the problem provinces. If the problem is not solved, and very quickly, a shadow of discredit will be thrown over the entire election.

Independent observation is generally regarded as crucial to the integrity of any election, and if polling day arrives and thousands of observers still do not have credentials, serious questions will be asked about the fairness and transparency of the Mozambican election.

Source: AIM