Foto de Ferhat Momade
Maputo, 9 Oct (AIM) – The Mais Integridade (More Integrity) Electoral Consortium, a civil society platform for election observation, has condemns the ballot box stuffing that took place during Wednesday’s presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections, notably in the central Mozambican province of Zambézia and the northern Province of Nampula.
The provinces are the largest constituencies in the country and are crucial in determining the winner of national elections.
According to a report, issued by Mais Integridade on Wednesday, in addition to ballot box stuffing, some observers and monitors of political parties were illegally prevented from entering the polling stations.
“The observers verified, throughout this voting period, cases of ballot box stuffing. Some voters were caught with ballot papers marked in advance and attempting to cast multiple votes in the provinces of Zambézia and Nampula”, the organization said.
Thus, in Namarroi, in Zambezia province, the wife of the district administrator was seen casting votes at more than one polling station. At a station in the port of Nacala, a woman was caught trying to slip ballot papers marked in advance into a ballot box. This case was remitted to the police.
At a station in Mocuba, Zambezia, the polling station chairperson was seen giving some voters more than three ballot papers for the same election.
Mais Integridade said that in Niassa, Zambézia and Sofala, observers and politicalarty monitors were denied entry at least 90 polling stations were prevented from voting. At one polling station in Quelimane, opposition monitors (from Renamo, Podemos and the MDM) were thrown out on the instructions of the STAE district director.
In Nicoadala district, also in Zambezia, the polling station chairperson not only did not allow duly accreted observers to enter, but even called on the police to remove them.
Some voters were denied the right to vote because, although they possessed valid voter cards, their names had been omitted from the voter rolls. Mais Integridade gave examples of this scandal in Nampula and Niassa.
The Mais Integridade consortium consists of seven respected civil society bodies, namely the Episcopal Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church, the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), the Civil Society Learning and Training Centre (CESC), Solidarity Mozambique, the Forum of Mozambican Associations of the Disabled (FAMOD), the Nucleus of Zambezia Women’s Associations (NAFEZA), and the Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body, MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa).
(AIM)
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