The ruling Frelimo party held a meeting last Thursday to discuss its election strategy ahead of the October municipal elections.
Specifically, the meeting was to be a moment for the party’s electoral brigades to fine-tune their strategy and plan accordingly for their engagement with prospective voters.
Normally, meetings of such nature last between three to four hours. In the past, such meetings were a vibrant event, with party members hearing and thrashing out conflicting views in order to improve on the strategy.
Sources told Mozambique Insights that last Tursday’s meeting was a poor imitation of previous meetings. During the three to four hours, only three people spoke, with the party’s Secretary-General, Roque Silva, making the presentation and two of the party members present making comments and asking questions.
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Frelimo insiders put it to Silva’s abrasive nature. He is said to be fond of hearing his own voice, with the exception being when President Filipe Nyusi, the party chairperson, is present – then Silva knows to not speak out of turn. Silva has made sure the rank and file know their place. As such, they avoid expressing their thoughts in his presence.
Little wonder then that last Thursday members had no appetite to contribute towards improving the party’s election strategy.
It did not help that seemingly a significant cog in Frelimo’s election strategy has been discovered. This is related to a spate of incidents of illegal night registration and outside the premises of the voter registration centres, leading observers to argue that the ongoing voter registration is the worst since Mozambicans started voting in democratic elections, in 1994.
So far, there is overwhelming evidence that suggests that Technical Secretariat Electoral Administration (STAE) district directors and supervisors are acting hand in hand with the ruling Frelimo party to commit electoral fraud in the forthcoming municipal elections.
Although the illegal night voter registration incidents were discovered and denounced by opposition parties, Mozambique Insights sources say that the opposition was let on to the machinations by disgruntled Frelimo members – perhaps that is the reason that led Silva to tell the meeting that the party had been infiltrated.
As more and more illegal night voter registration incidents are discovered and reported, it is safe to say that disgruntled members have decided to speak out perhaps to spite Silva.
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