The Sala da Paz electoral observation platform, made up of Mozambican and international observers, considered that the poor presence of political party candidate delegates could affect the transparency of today’s general elections.
‘Sala da Paz believes that the low presence of candidate delegates, if not corrected in the next few hours, could limit political parties from following the process in detail, which could in some way affect the transparency of the process,’ the organisation said in a statement, in which it assessed the opening atmosphere of the polling stations.
The presidential candidate and leader of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), Lutero Simango, denounced today that elements nominated by his party, which is represented in parliament, are being prevented from being present at the polling stations for the general elections, constituting ‘fraud’.
‘The refusal to allow MDM members to attend and the refusal to give credentials to our delegates only smells of fraud. That’s why I want to inform everyone that in the next few hours I will personally be travelling to all the polling stations in Maputo to make sure that my people are there. And continuing this process until the end of the day will only mean fraud, fraud, fraud,’ said Simango, speaking to journalists shortly after casting his vote in the capital at around 07:30 local time (06:30 Lisbon time).
Sala da Paz says that of the 3,297 polling stations visited by its 800 election observers, 2,982 polling stations (92.8 per cent) had at least one candidate delegate.
The ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) is present in the most polling stations, totalling 2,709 (82.6%), followed by the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), 2,016 polling stations (61.1%), the Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), 1,659 polling stations (50.3%), and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), 1,428 polling stations (43.3%), says Sala da Paz.
‘The remaining political parties showed a low presence of their candidate delegates at the polling stations,’ the statement said.
Sala da Paz points out that, in general, of the 3,297 polling stations visited by its observers, 2,709 (82.7 per cent) opened on time, complying with the electoral legislation, while the remaining 567 (17.3 per cent) opened well after the hour and 42 were not open at all.
‘With regard to the causes of the delays, organisational reasons stand out, such as: delays in the arrival of voting material, checking documents, delays in placing seals on ballot boxes before voting began and slowness on the part of polling station staff,’ the statement said.
But in general, ‘Peace Room observers on the ground characterise the atmosphere around the polling stations as calm’.
Polling stations in the Mozambican general elections opened at 07:00 (06:00 in Lisbon) today, with slight delays at some points, and will be open until 18:00.
The CNE has registered 17,163,686 voters, including 333,839 who will be voting in seven African and two European countries.
Today’s general elections include the seventh presidential elections – for which the current head of state, Filipe Nyusi, who has reached the constitutional limit of two terms, is no longer running – at the same time as the seventh legislative elections and the fourth elections for provincial assemblies and governors.
Running for president are Daniel Chapo, backed by Frelimo, Ossufo Momade, backed by Renamo, Lutero Simango, backed by MDM, and Venâncio Mondlane, backed by the extra-parliamentary Podemos party.
The publication of the results of the presidential election by the CNE, if there is no second round, takes up to 15 days, before they are validated by the Constitutional Council, which has no deadlines for proclaiming the official results after analysing any appeals.
The vote includes legislative seats (250 deputies) and seats for provincial assemblies and their respective provincial governors, in this case with 794 mandates to be distributed. The CNE approved lists of 35 political parties running for the Assembly of the Republic and 14 political parties and groups of voting citizens for the provincial assemblies.
Lusa
