
Maputo, 31 Aug (AIM) – Mozambique’s National Elections Commission (CNE) has not apologized either to the independent presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane, or to one of the forces backing him, the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD).
On Friday, a story was widely circulated on Mozambican social media claiming that the CNE had issued a statement apologizing to Mondlane and to CAD, for its decision to rejects the list of candidates from CAD for the parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for 9 October.
The CNE has never before issued an apology for any of its decisions. But now it supposedly admitted that it rejected the CAD lists without considering all the evidence.
The alleged apology said the CNE’s decision was “premature and unjust”, and “we are deeply ashamed by what happened”.
This apology quickly spread across many Facebook pages, whose owners did not take the elementary precaution of checking with the CNE itself.
The fact checking department in the Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body, MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa), quickly unmasked the apology as entirely fake.
Not only did the CNE make no apology to Mondlane or CAD on Friday, but on that day it did not issue any press releases at all. The most recent CNE release is dated 28 August, and concerned the training of polling station staff.
(AIM)
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