Renamo alleges fraudulent ballot papers, STAE denies – Mozambique Elections, AIM report

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Renamo alleges fraudulent ballot papers, STAE denies – Mozambique Elections, AIM report

8:44 CAT | 28 Sep 2018

Felisberto Naife / File photo

Mozambique’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, on Friday claimed that the ballot papers for the 10 October municipal elections are being designed in such a way that votes for Renamo will be eliminated.

The Renamo national election agent, Andre Magibire, told a Maputo press conference “Information is circulating which greatly concerns us, according to which, on the ballot paper for these elections, in the rectangle for Renamo, there is a bit of plastic so that when people vote a short time afterwards the ink disappears and it becomes an invalid vote”.

AIM asked the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) if such a cunning plot to deprive Renamo of votes was possible.

STAE general director Felisberto Naife replied that all the ballot papers for all 53 municipalities are being printed by a company in South Africa. A Mozambican team went to South Africa to supervise the printing and included members of the National Elections Commission (CNE) appointed by Renamo, and STAE technicians, also appointed by Renamo.

Magibire also accused the police of bias in favour of the ruling Frelimo Party. “We are very concerned with the biased way in which the police are acting”, he said.

He said that at about 23.00 on Monday night, the police detained some Renamo supporters in Maputo for flyposting electoral propaganda, before the official start of the campaign at midnight.

But the same Renamo supporters were also accused of tearing down posters of the ruling Frelimo Party. Magibire said this meant that Frelimo too had been posting its material before the official start of the campaign. “We think the people who had stuck up the Frelimo posters should also have been deprived of their freedom”, he said.

Magibire said the most serious incident occurred on Thursday in the western city of Tete when the Frelimo first secretary in the Mpadue neighbourhood was caught posting Frelimo propaganda on top of Renamo posters. After he was taken to a local police station, the Frelimo official shot a Renamo member, in front of police agents who took no action.

Magibire said the Frelimo attacker was not arrested, but his victim was detained and transferred to another police station.

This cannot possibly be true because the Renamo member, Aly Momad Vandane, was rushed to the Tete provincial hospital, where he was treated for the gunshot wound. Vandane was not in custody, but was able to talk freely to reporters from his hospital bed.

Although he confirmed that it was the Frelimo first secretary who shot him, the police, as far as AIM knows, have not yet arrested this individual.

Magibire also claimed that he Renamo mayoral candidate for Xai-Xai, capital of the southern province of Gaza, had been beaten up by Frelimo members.

“We want democracy in this country, we want the rule of law, and we demand that all the institutions of justice apply the same measure to all those who disturb the process”, he said. “It makes no sense only to harass members of Renamo. This means that the police are the armed wing of the Frelimo Party”.

“We urge the police general command and all institutions of the administration of justice that the zero tolerance decreed for anyone disturbing this process should be applied to all”, said Magibire. “We want peace and we shall avoid confrontation whenever possible”.

When AIM contacted the national police spokesperson, Inacio Dina, he said he knew nothing about Renamo’s accusations. But he pledged that the police will investigate to ascertain the truth.

Dina said the police are open to all political parties, and he urged the parties to notify the police in the event of any problem.

Source: AIM