Nyusi promulgates amended election laws

Maputo, 22 Aug (AIM) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday promulgated and ordered the publication of the amended electoral legislation approved by the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, earlier this month.

Nyusi promulgated he laws just three days before the start of the official campaign for the presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for 9 October.

This gives very little time for all those involved in the elections to become familiar with the changes imposed by the amendments. In particular all polling station staff (MMVs) must understand and apply the changes – and there will be thousands of MMVs (seven per polling station).

In the interests of transparency, the amendments determine that all ballot boxes must be transparent, and the slot at the top must only be wide enough to allow only one ballot paper at a time to enter. This is a precaution against ballot box stuffing.

A key change is that the amendment allows observers and journalists to be present at all stages of the count, without any ban. So, in principle, the count can no longer be carried out in secret.

Furthermore, the police can only be called into a polling station in cases of extreme necessity, and only when all of the MMVs agree. Since the parliamentary political parties, including the main opposition force, Renamo, have the right to appoint an MMV at every polling station, this means that the police can only enter a polling station with Renamo’s consent.

The election results at any polling station can only be validated in the presence of all the station staff. The amendments state that the results cannot be validated if any MMV has been thrown out by the police, except in cases expressly envisaged in the law.

The powers of staff to refuse to receive complaints from candidates are severely trimmed. The new law says that any MMV who, without justification, refuses to accept complaints or protests from candidates, can be punished with a year’s imprisonment and a fine of four to five times the monthly minimum wage.

Any MMV who tries to deny candidates or their agents access to polling stations, or to exercise their legally defined rights, can be punished with six months imprisonment.

These clauses, if implemented, could make it impossible to repeat some of the abuses that characterized last year’s municipal elections.

But the amendments also strip district and city law courts of the power to order recounts in cases of electoral disputes.

Last year, during the municipal elections, several district courts, using powers which they believe they enjoyed under the law, annulled elections or ordered recounts.

But the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, threw out all these lower court decisions, and declared that only it had the power to annul elections or order recounts.

The Frelimo and Renamo parliamentary groups agreed to strip the courts of this power. As a result of this parliamentary decision, the only bodies that can order recounts in the general elections are the National Elections Commission (CNE) and the Constitutional Council, which are both dominated by Frelimo.

The Mozambican Association of Judges (AMJ) was not at all pleased with this change, and warned that, in the event of a dispute, its members will act in accordance, not with the electoral law, but with the Constitution of the Republic.

(AIM)

Pf/ (564)