Renamo fears ‘under-registration’ of voters might be underway | Mozambique Elections

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Renamo fears ‘under-registration’ of voters might be underway | Mozambique Elections

9:35 CAT | 17 May 2023

Photo: O País

In Mozambique, the main opposition party said yesterday that problems with voter registration could lead to “under-registration” in the central and northern regions, where a large part of its electorate resides.

“Our fear is that what some organizations say happened in 2019 will happen [again] – an under-registration in the central and northern areas of the country,” said Renamo representative Venâncio Mondlane, who is following the voter registration process for the 11 October municipal elections.

According to Mondlane, four years ago, “about 1,700,000 people who reached the so-called electoral age were not registered” for the election.

“We have serious fears that this will happen again this year,” he said.

READ: MDM denounces disparity in distribution of voter registration posts | Mozambique Elections

Venâncio Mondlane was speaking after a meeting with electoral bodies – the National Election Commission (CNE) and the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) – in Maputo.

He pointed out flaws in the operational capacity of the registration brigades, which force some people to queue for more than a day to get their voter cards, for example, in addition to other problems.

In 2019, the electoral bodies announced the registration of 12.9 million voters, below the 14 million expected, meaning that an estimated 1.1 million voters were left out of the process.

In the meeting with the electoral bodies managing registration, Renamo suggested changes in terms of logistics and procedures in order to correct problems at registration posts.

Renamo also announced that it had presented complaints regarding various electoral offenses during the registration process and called for enhanced communication, suggesting a weekly press conference by the electoral bodies.

Renamo’s positions come on the same day that ‘Mais Integridade’, a coalition of civil society electoral observation organizations, called for the extension of the registration period for the municipal elections due to “the dropouts” of voters and the “slowness” of the process.

READ: Observers demand extending voter registration, an end to irregularities; other registration news | CIP Mozambique Elections

Voter registration started on April 20 and runs until June 3.

Source: Deutsche Welle