Maputo, 24 Jul (AIM) – A member of Mozambique’s National Elections Commission (CNE), prominent journalist Salomao Moyana, has accused the CNE spokesperson, Paulo Cuinica, of lying about the CNE decision to exclude the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD) from the parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for 9 October.
On 18 July, Cuinica told a Maputo press conference that the lists of candidates from the CAD were rejected at a meeting the previous day. He claimed that this decision was taken by consensus, with no CNE members dissenting.
Cited in the latest issue of the independent weekly “Canal de Mocambique”, Moyana said that, in reality, he had voted against the decision.
He could see nothing irregular about the CAD lists of candidates. Indeed, at this stage, “it is not legally possible to reject the CAD candidature, because the CNE has already approved and published in the Boletim da Republic (the official gazette) our acceptance of the regularity of the candidature”.
“Even if the candidature was irregular, with publication in the Boletim da Republica, it became regular”, Moyana claimed.
The reality, he argued, was that his colleagues on the CNE only voted against the CAD lists when they discovered that CAD was backing the independent presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane.
Mondlane was formerly a senior figure in the main opposition party, Renamo, and was the Renamo candidate for mayor of Maputo in last year’s municipal elections.
He announced his intention to run as the Renamo candidate for President of the Republic in the forthcoming elections, but the Renamo leadership prevented him from mounting a challenge to the current Renamo President, Ossufo Momade.
He was physically prevented from attending the Renamo Congress, held in mid-May in the central municipality of Alto Molocue. Mondlane then resigned from Renamo and declared his intention of running for the national presidency as an independent.
At this stage, CAD declared its support for Mondlane. CAD was set up in 2018 by a prominent human rights activist, the late Alice Mabote, but never made any impact. It consists of six tiny parties, none of whom have any representation in any of the provincial or municipal assemblies, let alone in the national parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.
Venancio Mondlane, a figure known nationally because of his campaigning against the fraudulent municipal election results, is a much greater asset to CAD than any of the coalition’s component parties.
The CNE seems to have woken up to this fact only after Mondlane declared that he was running for the Presidency.
“My colleagues discovered late that CAD is the party of Venancio Mondlane”, said Moyana, “and they had to invent some kind of story at the last minute. But when we approved the CAD in May, we were not drunk”.
As for Cuinica’s claims that the CNE decision was unanimous, “It’s a lie. I voted against”, declared Moyana.
Speaking on Monday, Ossufo Momade said he regretted the exclusion of CAD from the elections.
Renamo had fought for democracy, Momade claimed, which meant “the inclusion of all Mozambicans in elections”. He regretted that the CAD leadership “were unable to prepare the documentation required”.
He rejected claims that the Renamo-appointed members of the CNE had played a major role in the rejection of the CAD lists of candidates. He pointed out that the CAD had existed before Mondlane’s break with Renamo.
“Venancio wasn’t the person who created CAD”, Momade said. “He made use of a house that had been badly built. When the storm came, the house fell down. That cannot be blamed on Renamo – we had nothing to do with it”.
CAD has submitted an appeal against the rejection of its lists with the Constitutional Council, Mozambique’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law.
The CAD chairperson, Manecas Daniel, urged the Council to approve the appeal “in order to restore the truth and correct the mistake made by the CNE”.
If the appeal was not accepted, he added, CAD would organise a demonstration in Maputo on Saturday “and will not accept responsibility for any damage”.
(AIM)
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