Maputo, 10 Sep (AIM) – Laura Cereza, the Chairperson of the European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission for Mozambique’s presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections, scheduled for 9 October, has pledged to be completely impartial during the observation.
According to Cereza, speaking on Monday, in Maputo, at a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Manuel Gonçalves, the EU mission, which will count on 150 members, will not interfere in the elections but will observe them, in line with tried and tested principles.
“We want to emphasize our working principles, which are always neutrality and impartiality in observing elections. We won’t interfere in any way and we have a methodology that has been defined and tested over many years to carry out this observation”, she said.
She explained that the UE Election Observation Mission follows international standards during the observation of elections, taking into account impartiality and professional ethics.
According to Cereza, the European Union will take more than two months to release its report and recommendations.
“We’re not going to make any public statements until 48 hours after the elections, because we want to respect the process as much as possible and not interfere, letting everything develop as it should”, she said.
“After two or two and a half months, I will return with a team to present the conclusions and the election observation report, as well as possible recommendations”, she added.
The mission, she explained, will be able to operate throughout the country. “It’s a very large mission, made up of short- and long-term observers. We’ll also have a mission from the European Parliament (MEPs), which will arrive in the week of 9 October, and also diplomats from various member states”, Cereza said.
Cereza also hoped that the elections will be transparent and free of fraud. Last year’s municipal elections were marred by serious fraud, and were heavily criticized by the opposition parties and national and international NGOs.
For his part, Goncalves expressed his satisfaction that the EU had accepted the invitation from the Mozambican government.
“It’s always a pleasure to have the European Union Delegation here. Since 1994, when we held the first multi-party elections, the European Union has always accepted the Mozambican government’s invitation”, he said.
(AIM)
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