Poor knowledge of polling station staff concerns observers

Maputo, 9 Oct (AIM) – Laura Cereza, head of the European Union’s Election Observation Mission to Mozambique, claims that some members of polling station staff during Wednesday’s presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections showed poor knowledge of how to do their jobs.

According to Cereza, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, in Maputo, the 179 observers of the European Union operated across the country and verified the opening of the polling stations.

“We were able to observe the commitment of the members of the polling station for the opening to be correct”, she said. “The mission observed that most of the polling stations opened on time or with some delay due to lack of material or some lack of organization of polling stations. In some cases, some members of polling station staff showed weak knowledge on how the elections work”.

“We did not record major incidents at the opening of polling stations”, Cereza said, “but in some cases, we noted polling station staff seemed to lack knowledge about how to organise elections”.

A report from the Mais Integridade (More Integrity) Electoral Consortium, a civil society platform for electoral observation, claimed that 90 percent of the polling stations observed opened on time, but there were other stations that suffered delays due to a lack of voting material.

“These were cases, for example, registered in several polling stations in Maputo city and in some districts of the central province of Zambezia, such as Gilé. In some of these places, voters left without voting”, reads the report.

According to Mais Integridade, the turnout at the time of the opening was very high, with an average of 150 to 200 people per queue in about 95 per cent of the tables observed.

“In general, the atmosphere during the opening of the polling stations was calm, but in 12 per cent, or about 120 of the stations observed, there was unrest because of the disorganization of the queues and slowness in processing voters”, the report said.

However, the spokesperson for the National Elections Commission (CNE), Paulo Cuinica, told reporters that the polling stations opened on time, and that the voting material was placed there in good time – although in a significant minority of cases, these claims were clearly untrue.

According to Cuinica, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, where islamist terrorists have been carrying out extreme violence, the polling stations opened on time, with the exception of three polling stations in Montepuez district. In these cases, aircraft were used to transport the material.

“Where we still have challenges is also in the central province of Zambezia, where we are still having some difficulties in placing the material in Maganja da Costa, Quelimane and Gilé. In Gaza, we started with problems with five polling stations, two of which ended up opening a little late”, he said.
(AIM)
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