Mozambique: Voter card pick-up could degenerate into post-election climate of tension, opposition says

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Mozambique: Voter card pick-up could degenerate into post-election climate of tension, opposition says

2:33 CAT | 06 Jun 2018

Deutsche Welle (File photo)

Opposition political parties consider that voter registration and data extraction in schools, neighbourhoods and public institutions may degenerate into a climate of tension during the election period, writes a report published yesterday at Magazine Independente online.

The main opposition party Renamo stresses that this is a violation of the electoral law, as no one has the right to collect data from voter cards. “The PGR should have already ruled on the subject because it consubstantiates a public crime but, as always, it is non-existent and does not act in public crimes. It is regrettable,” Renamo spokesman José Manteigas says.

Manteigas points out that “this will disturb the electoral process and may create electoral conflicts. It is urgent that the proper authority pronounces on this worrisome development”.

“We have already made a series of public complaints about the case, but the PGR does not do anything. This worries us because it could cause electoral conflicts as in the past,” Manteigas says.

The MDM’s Sande Carmona points the finger at the party in power, which he claims is engineering “a vitiation of the electoral process” which would “start with the registering of people living outside local areas [municipalities]”. According to Carmona, this would endanger the whole electoral process, which should first and foremost be free and transparent.

Carmona said that the MDM was working to counter the situation, and that party leaders have already been authorised to file suit with the judicial bodies so that they have to rule on the situation.

In turn, Yaqub Sibindy [PIMO, Independent Party of Mozambique] argues that Frelimo is not prepared to live in a democratic way, but that it was forced to adapt though not prepared, and was therefore using every possible manoeuver, even registering people [who live in areas] outside of municipalities.

“This data collection is part of a fraudulent system, and to stop this the president must reshuffle the government, postpone the elections and form a management government, because it has already been seen that Frelimo is preparing a fraud,” Yaqub says, adding that if the elections generate similar results to those of previous elections, the situation could be chaotic.

Meanwhile, the press has reported that public institutions have been given express orders to register the voter card numbers, names and places where civil servants have been registered, which are recorded in a form with the Frelimo party stamp and distributed to illegal party cells operating within these bodies.

By Elisio Muchanga

Source: Magazine Independente