Mozambique’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) on Thursday approved the results of the 11 October municipal elections, thus confirming the announcements by the district electoral commissions of the 65 municipalities that were at play.
CNE’s chairperson, Bishop Carlos Matsinhe, told Mozambicans that the ruling Frelimo party had won in 64 of 65 municipalities.
Dom Carlos Matsinhe said that the CNE was aware of complaints of irregularities but could not act on the matter because they were being dealt with at the Constitutional Council, which doubles up as an electoral court during elections.
Comment
The elections were marred by serious irregularities which overwhelmingly benefitted Frelimo.
However, parallel count from civil society observer missions read differently for about ten municipalities, giving a victory to the opposition. So, CNE has validated blatant and massive electoral fraud.
The fraud was possible because district Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE), the technical wing of CNE, colluded with Frelimo to overturn the will of the people in Maputo City, Matola, Quelimane, Gurué, Nampula, Angoche, Ilha de Moçambique, Chiúre, among others.
The district courts decisions have been mixed: some dismissed the opposition complaints; others impugned the results and ordered a recount; and others impugned the results and ordered a rerun.
Throughout the process, it was clear that Frelimo used its position as the ruling party to illicitly influence the outcome of elections, decisions and even court rulings.
And its does not help that both CNE and STAE are configured along party lines, meaning that if push came to shove, Frelimo simply imposed its power because of the majorities in such bodies. For example, there are 17 CNE members representing Frelimo, the opposition Renamo, MDM, and civil society – normally, civil society members vote with Frelimo. On Wednesday evening, eight voted for the resolution validating the results, five voted against and two, namely Dom Carlos Matsinhe and journalist Salomão Moyana, abstained – two Renamo members were absent due to ill health.
Initially, voting was meant to be via a secret ballot, but Renamo insisted on an open ballot. Apparently, Renamo’s thinking was to see who would vote how, and it got its wishes. But it is not clear whether the tactic paid off. It is one thing to know how each person voted, but it is another to perhaps inhibit people who are not courageous to vote with their conscience. Consequently, no one defied Frelimo’s will.
Regardless, all those who voted for the resolution or even abstained covered themselves in ignominy.
Unfortunately, Mozambicans cannot place much hope on the Constitutional Court, which is also configured along party lines.
Meanwhile, CNE’s chairperson is being crucified when there is hardly anything he can do to change the situation. However, one thing he could do in good conscience is to step down and not associate his name to a highly contentious, fraudulent and problematic electoral process.
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