The Mozambican Central Administrative Court is due to rule on Friday on an injunction filed by civil society to stop the destruction of ballot papers from the October general elections, a source from the petitioners told Lusa.
At issue, explained lawyer Ivan Maússe from the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), which is leading this process on behalf of the Mais Integridade electoral observation consortium, is an appeal to suspend the effectiveness of the administrative act of the National Electoral Commission, in the part that set today as the day for the destruction, throughout the country, of ballot papers from the general elections on 9 October.
According to the lawyer, the case was filed with the court on 8 January and has been assigned to a judge, with a decision expected today, given that the destruction of the ballot papers must take place this Friday, under the CNE’s resolution.
“It needed to be swift, even given the lack of a decision in due time,” the lawyer stressed, recognising that the action, equivalent to a precautionary measure, is not aimed at the electoral process, which has been closed since the results were announced by the Constitutional Council (CC) on 23 December, the last body with electoral powers, but rather at preserving the material for future accountability.
So far, the court has not ruled on the appeal.
“The CC recounted the vote, and this work should have been, in legal terms, done by the CNE (…) It should have been open to the public, but it wasn’t. Who can guarantee us that the minutes used in the election will not be held accountable in the future? Who can guarantee that the minutes used were the originals? We need to preserve the material for accountability,” said Maússe, alluding to the electoral offences detected during the process, which they intend to take to the African courts.
“Material that will serve as evidence. It’s even about responsibility for falsifying the results,” he insisted.
A source from the Decide electoral platform, another organisation that monitors electoral processes, also confirmed to Lusa that it has filed an identical lawsuit, which is awaiting a decision.
The ballot papers for Mozambique’s October elections have to be destroyed today in all the country’s districts, but the National Electoral Commission’s decision will not be enforced in Maputo city, where the warehouse was vandalised.
“We don’t have anything to destroy because the warehouse was destroyed during the demonstrations,” Ana Chemane, president of the Maputo City Elections Commission, told Lusa.
The destruction of the warehouse that held the ballot papers for the general elections in Maputo City took place during the violent demonstrations that broke out after the results of the general elections were announced by the CC on 23 December, led by supporters of presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who does not recognise them.
The CNE has scheduled the destruction of the general election ballot papers for 17 January, a step that is legally required after the conclusion of the highly contested 2024 elections.
According to the CNE’s decision, previously reported by Lusa, it involves the “destruction of validly cast, blank, void, claimed, protested or counter-protested ballot papers placed in the custody of the District and City Election Commissions”, which will take place on their premises.
The general elections on 9 October included the seventh presidential elections, at the same time as legislative elections and elections for provincial assemblies and governors.
More than 17.1 million voters were registered for these elections, and around half of them voted.
On 23 December, Mozambique’s Constitutional Council proclaimed Daniel Chapo, the candidate supported by the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), as the winner of the election for President of the Republic, with 65.17% of the votes, and he was sworn into office on Wednesday in Maputo.
