Presidente do consorcio eleitoral Mais Integridade, Edson Cortez, falando na conferencia de imprensa sobre na nova lei eleitoral. Foto de Santos Vilanculos
Maputo, 18 Sep (AIM) – Throughout the first three weeks of Mozambique’s general election campaign, calm has generally prevailed, without any major incidents, according to a Wednesday press release from the “Mais Integridade” (“More Integrity”) civil society coalition of election observers.
In the third week of the campaign there were fewer acts of intimidation, provoked either by the police or by rival political parties, than in the second week.
There was, however, a violent confrontation between supporters of the ruling Frelimo Party and of the main opposition force, Renamo, in the central city of Quelimane. This situation was only brought under control after negotiations between the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR – the Mozambican equivalent of the riot police) and the Zambezia provincial delegate of Renamo.
In Cuamba, in the northern province of Niassa, a member of Podemos (Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique), which is supporting the independent presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane, was run over by Frelimo supporters.
In these minor clashes, five people were injured – four militants of political parties and one member of the public.
“Mais Integridade” observers were mostly able to observe the campaign without any problems, except for a few exceptions in Beira, Moma (Nampula province) and Lago (Niassa), where Frelimo and Renamo illegally banned observers from following their campaign or taking photos.
The observers found that Frelimo brigades are illicitly registering citizens of voting age in Chicualacuala district, a Frelimo stronghold in Gaza province, and are offering money for voter cards in Moma and Angoche, in the northern province of Nampula. These districts are believed to be mostly in favour of the opposition, and if their residents no longer have voter cards, they could be turned away at the polling stations.
“Mais Integridade” found that in 12 per cent of the activities observed public employees and assets were illegally used by political parties. State-owned vehicles from the education and health sectors were frequently seen on the Frelimo campaign. Teachers and other public employees deserted their posts to join the Frelimo campaign. This halted classes altogether in several establishments, including the Cuamba Teacher Training Institute (in Niassa), the Health Sciences Training Institute in Nhamatanda (Sofala), and the Moma Secondary School (Nampula).
The observers analysed 2,482 news items on the main television channels and in the daily and weekly press. They found that journalistic coverage showed a bias in favor of the Frelimo campaign. 41 per cent of the coverage in the daily papers went to Frelimo, followed by Renamo (24 per cent), the MDM (19 per cent) and Podemos (11 per cent). In the weekly press, Frelimo also had 41 per cent of the coverage, followed by Renamo (20 per cent), MDM (16 per cent) and Podemos (19 per cent).
The imbalance was less in the broadcast media. 30 per cent of the coverage went to Frelimo, 18 per cent to Renamo, 17 per cent to MDM and seven per cent to Podemos.
To some extent, the imbalance is due to the fact that Frelimo holds many more campaign events than any other party. Of the campaign activities covered by “Mais Integridade”, 45 per cent were by Frelimo, 28 per cent by Renamo, 15 per cent by MDM and 12 per cent by Podemos.
(AIM)
Pf/ (544)
