Nampula blocks citizens lists; Iapala secret registration confirmed | CIP Mozambique Elections

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Nampula blocks citizens lists; Iapala secret registration confirmed | CIP Mozambique Elections

9:30 CAT | 09 May 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only. A view of Nampula city. [File photo: By JVMOZ /Wikimedia Commons]

Problems in Nampula Registry Office are blocking citizens lists

An alleged problem in the systems of the Registry Office for Legal Entities, in Nampula, may prevent groups of citizens from running candidates for the municipal elections in that province. Because of this supposed problem, the registry office is refusing to register names of organisations, or to issue definitive registrations, steps which are imperative for the candidatures of citizens’ groups.

This constraint is occurring a few months from the start of the submission of candidatures. Our bulletin knows, from a source linked to the Nampula Registry Office, that the problem has dragged on for five weeks and that “it’s only Maputo who can say what is really going on”.

The most critical situation is in the municipality of Nacala Port, where a group of citizens has been trying to deal with these documents for a year, but in vain. Because they want to take part in the elections, they had to travel to Nampula city, where they were told to deal with the documentation in Maputo. By creating these limitations, the State runs the risk of infringing on a constitutional right.

The Mozambican Constitution – in article 275, paragraph 4 – says that groups of citizens, not part of a political party but organised into associations, can run for membership of the municipal assemblies, including for Mayor. But in these coming municipal elections, this may not happen in Nampula province, because of the alleged problems with the system in the Registry Office for Legal Entities. These problems are hindering the definitive registration of associations, and the registration of the name, which are indispensable documents for the candidatures.

District director of STAE transported material for clandestine registration in Iapala

The district director of STAE in Ribauè, Charles João Amade, transported the election materials to the administrative post of Iapala in the dead of night, concludes a report by the Nampula Provincial Electoral Commission (CPE) to which our Bulletin has had access.

Amade was assisted by the supervisor of Ribáuè Sede and the clerk of Quitelene (also in Ribáuè) registration posts, Mazarino Vieira and António João, respectively. The report reveals what we already reported in the last edition of the Bulletin. https://bit.ly/CIP-El-69 The trio was caught Saturday night (May 5) by the member of the District Electoral Commission of Ribáuè, Faruk Adelino, and by the district STAE technician, Francisco Nchacha “doing voter registration in Iapala-Sede, around 9 p.m., outside normal hours as well as outside the premises of the voter registration brigades.”

The three suspects fled when they were discovered Saturday night, and the CPE report states that “their whereabouts is unknown”. All three were dismissed and criminal proceedings were opened against them.

The provincial director of STAE in Nampula province, Luís Cavalo, made the odd claim that what happened is not the responsibility of the electoral bodies. There has been disobedience by district STAE directors to the orders of central STAE, which suggests that they obey a partisan command. For example, our correspondents continue to report cases of prioritisation of civil servants in several registration posts, an act which the STAE directorate-general has already ordered to be banned, along with the carrying out of registration or printing of cards outside the hours established for the functioning of the posts.

Ribaue.sate_.fb_ — *FILE – Night registration in Iapala, Ribau. [Screen grab: Social media]*

At the level of the central electoral administration bodies, the insubordination of district directors to their guidelines may be an act aimed at discrediting the current national director-general of STAE, Loló Correia, whose election was contested by Frelimo, which wanted Helena Garrine.

The CPE board which went to investigate the events in Ribauè was made up of the president and vice president of the provincial electoral commission, Daniel Ramos and Branquinho Carmona, respectively, and the Nampula provincial director of STAE, Luís Cavalo.

The report does not refer to the number of people registered that night.

The two Ribaue registration posts, at the Ribaue-Sede EPC (town centre primary school) and Quithele, which were not operational due to the diversion of the machines to clandestine registration, were re-opened on Sunday). Our correspondents say a substantial number of voters have turned up at these posts.

Other news
The hindrances preventing potential voters from registering are tending to decline in Caia, in Sofala province, after a visit by a provincial supervisory and monitoring brigade formed by members of the political parties.

Finally, after 18 days, voter registration has begun in Quirambo, on Ibo island, in Cabo Delgado.

Cases of breakdowns of computers and of printers are still being reported in various districts. Likewise, the machines are still failing to recognise the faces, and the fingerprints, of some elderly voters.

Source: Centro de Integridade Pública - CIP