The European Union today pointed to “irregularities” in the process involving the sixth local elections in Mozambique, held on 11 October and strongly contested by opposition parties and civil society, calling for “legislative improvements”.
The position is expressed in the joint communiqué of the 34th session of Political Dialogue between the Government of Mozambique and the European Union (EU), held today in Maputo, in which the executive, among other matters, “gave a detailed description of the stages of the process, from voter registration to the validation and proclamation of the results”.
“The government thanked the European Union for its support for the electoral processes in Mozambique. The European Union noted some irregularities throughout the electoral process and called on the authorities and Mozambican society to commit to making the necessary legislative improvements, as recognised in the Constitutional Council’s ruling of 24 November 2023,” reads the joint communiqué.
At this session, the Mozambican delegation was led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Verónica Macamo, while the EU delegation was led by the ambassador in Maputo, Antonino Maggiore, accompanied by the ambassadors of Finland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland and Germany, as well as the Chargés d’Affaires of France and the Netherlands, and the Heads of the Diplomatic Bureau of Belgium and Austria.
This 34th meeting was the last to be held under the Cotonou Agreement, under the slogan “Mozambique and the European Union: a consolidated Political Dialogue, elevated to a Partnership Dialogue”.
“With the signing on 15 November of the Samoa Agreement between the member countries of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACP) and the European Union, the Political Dialogue has evolved into a Partnership Dialogue,” the statement said.
On 24 November, Mozambique’s Constitutional Council (CC) pointed out the “fragility” of the country’s electoral administration, calling for “deep reflection” on the role of electoral bodies.
“The Constitutional Council believes that there is a need for in-depth reflection on the role of the electoral commissions and the technical secretariats for electoral administration, since the aforementioned dichotomy has demonstrated a fragility in the control of the electoral administration system,” said the president of the CC, Lúcia Ribeiro, when reading the judgement that proclaimed the results of the local elections.
She also questioned the role of the district electoral commissions in the intermediate tabulation of the results of the local elections, since the law requires them to act through the technical secretariats for electoral administration: “The role of the electoral commissions is questioned here. Will it be that of a simple assistant and then of signing the minutes and notices of the intermediate centralisation carried out by the STAE [Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration]?”
The competition between the two electoral bodies in the exercise of the same functions, with the district commissions “overshadowed”, creates confusion and makes the electoral process more complex, says the ruling.
The CC also considers provincial electoral bodies irrelevant, because they are “couriers” for the work done at district level, which “jeopardises procedural speed and causes conflicts”.
“It is important to clarify the role of the various electoral bodies in the municipal elections, since the results of the municipal elections are known through the intermediate tabulation carried out by the district or city commissions,” said Lúcia Ribeiro.
The Mozambican CC proclaimed the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) the winner of the 11 October municipal elections in 56 municipalities, compared to the previous 64, with the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) winning four, and ordered repeat elections in four, which were held this Sunday.
On 26 October, after the intermediate and general tabulation, the CNE announced Frelimo’s victory in 64 of the 65 municipalities that went to the polls.
