Maputo, 27 Oct (AIM) – The election agent of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party, Foreign Minister Veronica Macamo, on Thursday categorically denied that Frelimo’s victory in the municipal elections was due to fraud.
Speaking to reporters in Maputo immediately after the National Elections Commission (CNE) had declared provisional results granting Frelimo victory in 64 of the 65 municipalities, Macamo said “We didn’t commit fraud. We worked to win the elections”.
“What we ask for is simply calm”, she added. “There is a proper place for dealing with complaints. We have all become rather used to protests after elections. This time there are more protests than previously, but we are not worried”.
What was important, said Macamo, was to follow the procedures to the end, when the official results will be declared. “If there is any anomaly, we will know about it”, she stressed.
Gloria Salvador, the election agent of the main opposition party, Renamo, insisted that the elections had been characterized by fraud and ballot box stuffing, which resulted in Frelimo’s victory.
She stressed that in municipalities such as Maputo, Matola, Quelimane, Nampula, and Vilanculo, Renamo has its own copies of the polling station results sheets (“editais”) which prove that it won the elections.
All the competing parties are entitled to a copy of the editais: so opposition claims could be checked by comparing their copies of the editais with those held by Frelimo or by the district elections commissions.
Salvador said the election bodies were afraid of making such a comparison “because they are in the service of the ruling party”.
“The CNE doesn’t want to recognise that the results announced were fabricated”, she declared. “Comparing the editais is a question of good will”.
The election agent of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), Silva Cheia, declared that the results “do not reflect the will of the people. The people who will govern are not those who won”.
The CNE, she added, was not a referee “but also a player, assisting the Frelimo Party”.
The Deputy Chairperson of the CNE, Fernando Mazanga, who was appointed by Renamo, accused the chairperson, Anglican Bishop Carlos Matsinhe of “cowardice”.
Cited in Friday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, Mazanga said that, in reality, the Bishop does not accept the results, and should have said so at the CNE meeting held on Wednesday. But instead he abstained.
Mazanga said Matsinhe had succumbed to the threats he had received. His abstention, he added, “told Mozambicans that these elections are worthless”.
“I don’t feel proud to be a member of this CNE”, said Mazanga. “I’ve been a member of previous CNEs, and this is the worst”.
(AIM)
Pf/ (444)
