CAD will appeal to Constitutional Council

Maputo, 19 Jul (AIM) – The Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD) announced in Maputo on Thursday that it will appeal to the Constitutional Council, Mozambique’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, against the decision by the National Elections Commission (CNE) barring it from participating in the parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for 9 October.

The CNE based its decision on the CAD’s failure to comply with the law on political parties. That law allows political parties to form coalitions, but they must notify the Ministry of Justice (the state body in charge of registering parties) of any changes in their composition.

The original CAD coalition pact dates from 2018, but a new pact was signed by the six constituent parties of CAD on 27 April. CAD should have informed the Justice Ministry within 15 days – but it did not inform the Ministry until 28 June, which was about six weeks too late.

CNE spokesperson Paulo Cuinica claimed that informing the Ministry of Justice of any changes to the pact was “an essential requirement”. Failure to notify the Ministry meant that the CAD lists of candidates for the elections were automatically invalid.

An obvious problem with this approach is that the CAD nomination papers have been with the CNE for months, but it was only on Thursday that the CNE declared them invalid.

Cuinica could give no explanation for the delay. The fact that the CAD of 2024 was using a different convention pact from the CAD of 2018, should have been obvious – and there was enough time for the CNE to notify CAD of the irregularity and ask for a correction.

It chose not to do so, and Cuinica made the remarkable claim that invalidities “can be invoked at any time”, even after the election. If this claim were to be taken seriously, anybody could claim that an election is invalid, even after all the votes have been counted and the result declared.

Fortunately, the alternative explanation, that Cuinica did not know what he was talking about, is much more likely.

The CAD is backing the independent candidate in presidential election, Venancio Mondlane, who was once a senior figure in the main opposition party, Renamo.

Immediately after the CNE rejected the CAD lists of candidates, Mondlane declared “we shall appeal to the Constitutional Council”, and he was confident that the Council will find in CAD’s favour.

“We shall use all windows and opportunities to prove that our rights have been violated”, he declared. “We had already foreseen that some CNE members wanted to reject our candidates, but we are calm”.

He claimed that the CNE does not have the power to declare any election candidacy invalid, and it had never done so in previous elections. This is a point of law which the Constitutional Council will have to decide.

“The CNE decision is not legal – it is political and partisan, unfounded and unfortunate”, he accused.

Mondlane called for the current CNE to be dismantled, and replaced by a truly independent CNE.

That would require sweeping changes to the electoral law, which enshrines political party control over the 17 member CNE. Even the CNE members who supposedly come from civil society are, in reality, filtered through the political parties. The result is a Commission dominated by the ruling Frelimo Party, but on which the opposition is guaranteed seats.

For years, election observation groups have called for the political parties to be removed from the CNE, but none of the parties will accept this.

CNE members “represent the parties and not the people”, said Mondlane. “The CNE should reflect the population, and we need a more representative model”.

Mondlane was speaking shortly after returning from a tour of the northern provinces, where he claimed his presidential bid was enthusiastically welcomed.

“In Nampula our reception was phenomenal”, he said. “In Cabo Delgado, our rallies were very crowded. In Niassa, we met some intolerance from our adversaries, and we understood that even the police have been politicized. This is something that CAD is going to change”.

Mondlane lamented the governance of the past ten years, under President Filipe Nyusi, noting that the percentage of Mozambicans living below the poverty line has risen from 48 to 63 per cent. It is hard to argue with these figures, since they come from government documents.

(AIM)

Pf/ (718)