The Roman Catholic bishops of Mozambique said on Tuesday that the general elections on 9 September were fraudulent and called on the electoral authorities not to certify the results, emphasising that “certifying a lie is fraud”.
“The application of the electoral law in the vote tabulation phase at national level by the competent authorities alone cannot say that the results are reliable if the data is not. Certifying a lie is fraud,” according to the statement, signed by the archbishop of Nampula, Inácio Sampura, president of the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (CEM).
The statement, released in the context of the general elections on 9 October and opening with a quote from the Gospel according to St John, chapter 08, verse 32: “The truth will set you free”, also addresses the violence that followed the murder last Saturday of Elvino Dias, a lawyer for Venâncio Mondlane, the presidential candidate, and Paulo Guambe, a member of Podemos, the party that supports Mondlane, who according to a police source told Lusa were shot dead in an “ambush”.
The crime took place on Avenida Joaquim Chissano, in the centre of the capital.
Following the double murder, Venâncio Mondlane, who is contesting preliminary election results that do not give him victory, called for peaceful marches in Mozambique on Monday, which were dispersed with gunfire and tear gas in Maputo and also in Pemba, with at least 16 people injured in the capital.
Concerning the elections, the Mozambican bishops emphasise that after another vote that was “generally guided by civility”, in the aftermath of the elections”, once again violence was used, and now it has been tarnished with a cowardly ambush as a way of silencing, if not the truth, at least democracy”.
“We condemn the barbaric murder of two political figures as a clear reminder, with similarities in method, of other murders of political or civil society figures, also linked to opposition parties, that have taken place following previous elections,” they emphasise.
Emphasising that the Catholic Church is nonpartisan, does not support candidates, and has no parties, the bishops state that the institution does not renounce its political and social commitment “to a concrete path towards building a more democratic, inclusive, just and fraternal society, in which everyone should live in peace, with dignity and a future.”
“This is why, as the voice of the Roman Catholic Church, we Bishops cannot refrain from denouncing this serious situation that the country is going through and the violence that it generates, plunging everyone into chaos,” they added.
Concerning the general elections, the bishops highlight the high level of abstention, the result of “irregularities and fraud in previous elections”, which have shown a large part of the population that their will, expressed at the ballot box, “is not respected, rendering the exercise of this important civic right useless”.
“Unfortunately, once again, there was gross fraud. Ballot box stuffing, forged notices, and so many other ways of covering up the truth were repeated. The irregularities and fraud practised with impunity have reinforced the lack of confidence in the electoral bodies, in the leaders who abdicate their dignity and despise the truth and the sense of service that should guide those to whom the people entrust their vote. In this way, they push the people not only to prove their mistrust but also to question the legitimacy of those elected,” they emphasise.
The bishops stress that their message is a “strong appeal” to end the violence and “to have the courage to engage in dialogue and to restore the truth to the facts”.
They, therefore, insist that the election results be determined “in a transparent manner”, publishing and comparing the original notices in the possession of the various parties. They advocate the creation of “spaces for collaboration in governance and consider a possible government of national unity”, as well as involving “competent and serious institutions in the country in the management of the electoral processes, present and future”.
“Mozambique must not return to violence! Our country deserves truth, peace, tranquillity and tolerance! Let us pray for peace, be artisans of justice and witnesses to the truth,” the statement concludes.
