Maputo, 2 Nov (AIM) – The opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) has demanded an explanation from the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) about the investigations into the crimes that took place in connection with the municipal elections held on 11 October.
MDM leader Lutero Simango visited the PGR headquarters in Maputo on Wednesday to express his party’s concern at the electoral crimes that may have influenced the preliminary results of the municipal elections announced a week ago by the National Elections Commission (CNE).
“There were crimes and we denounced them”, Simango told reporters, after the meeting. “We want to know from the PGR the state of the investigations into these crimes. The case of the director of STAE (Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat) in Beira has been with the PGR for a long time”.
He was referring to the illicit WhatsApp group set up by the Beira district director of STAE, Nelson Carlos do Rosário, during the voter registration period (20 April – 3 June), to which he recruited supervisors of Beira registration posts.
Messages between members of the group made it clear that the slowness in attendance, some of the machine breakdowns, the rejection of witnesses and of official documents, were deliberate and part of a scheme to wear out the electorate of the opposition and to benefit Frelimo.
The instruction of the STAE director was to make it as difficult as possible for opposition parties, whom he called “the enemy”. “The mission”, wrote the STAE director, “is to destroy the enemy”.
Member of this WhatsApp group claimed they were “liberating” Beira from the opposition.
The evidence of gross illegality is clear from the WhatsApp posts, yet Rosario has not yet appeared in court.
Simango also referred to the destruction of opposition propagada by Frelimo members. Particularly notorious, because caught on camera, was the destruction of MDM and Renamo T-shirts in the municipality of Homoine, in Inhambane province. The people who committed this crime included a Frelimo parliamentary deputy, and were easily identifiable.
Simango declared that crimes had taken place from the voter registration through to polling day, 11 October, but the PGR has said nothing about them.
(AIM)
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