Maputo, 16 Sep (AIM) – The highest number of cases of violence and electoral crimes are recorded during the period of the election campaign, according to research unveiled by the Institute for Multiparty Democracy (IMD), a prominent Mozambican NGO.
The research entitled “On the Road to the Elections: Mapping Electoral Irregularities and Offences in Mozambique: What Can Be Learned from Past Processes?” was compiled on the basis of complaints recorded by the Sala da Paz (Peace Room) platform, a forum that brings together dozens of civil society organizations, plus information published by the media regarding the 2014, 2018 and 2019 elections.
“Mozambique recorded at least 419 cases of illegal behaviour during the last three elections held in 2014 (general elections), 2018 (municipal elections) and 2019 (general elections)”, said IMD Project Manager Glécio Massango, in Maputo on Friday at the launch of the study.
“In all, we managed to identify 419 electoral offences in the three elections of 2024, 2018 and 2019,” he said.
According to Massango, the northern province of Nampula and central province of Zambézia, recorded the largest number of cases – not surprising, since these are the two most populous provinces.
In addition to Zambézia and Nampula, the study points to Gaza, Sofala and Tete as the provinces most at risk in terms of the likelihood of irregularities and electoral offences, which “often evolve into situations of physical violence between electoral actors”.
“We also have provinces that we consider to be relatively low risk, such as Maputo province and city, Cabo Delgado and Niassa. However, as for Maputo province, we have to recognize that, for example, in the last elections we had some events of political intolerance,” he said.
The study also points to the voting and results tabulation phase as the second highest on the list of irregularities.
“In all, during 2019, Sala da Paz recorded 227 irregularities during the electoral campaign, which corresponds to 79.37 per cent, followed by the voting and tabulation of results phase with 53 cases, corresponding to 18.53 per cent, and six cases, corresponding to 2.1 per cent, in the voter registration phase”, reads the study.
The post-election period, which encompasses all subsequent phases, it adds, “is in last place, with only eight per cent of the total number of cases recorded in this period.”
(AIM)
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