Maputo, 16 Oct (AIM) – The Mozambican Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) has issued a summons to Venancio Mondlane, the independent candidate in last Wednesday’s presidential election, demanding that he stop his alleged violations of the Mozambican Constitution.
This followed an earlier statement from the PGR, in which it warned that it was “following up on the occurrence of electoral offences, irregularities, common crimes and the violation of ethical-electoral norms practiced by various actors in the elections”.
The PGR said it was monitoring “speeches that incite violence, public disorder and, above all, self-proclamation of victory during the last elections, before the official release of the results by the competent bodies”.
The only person who had declared himself the winner is Venancio Mondlane.
In the summons sent on Tuesday to Mondlane, the PGR accused Mondlane of violating the Constitution and the electoral legislation. The summons, said the PGR statement, “results from the repeated wave of social agitation, public disobedience, lack of respect for State bodies, incitement to violence and disinformation perpetrated by the candidate for President of the Republic, Venancio Mondlane”.
As a presidential candidate, the PGR continued, Mondlane had the duty to guarantee compliance with the Constitution and other laws, but “he is adopting a posture that is completely contrary”.
Worse still, the PGR added, was the fact that Mondlane is publishing results from his parallel vote count and proclaiming himself President of the Republic, despite an earlier warning from the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Although he has already been notified by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, it is a matter of concern that Venancio Mondlane is repeating behavior that violates ethical and electoral principles and norms”, said the PGR statement.
The PGR also objected to Mondlane’s promise to set up “a commission for the transition of power”, which it regarded as incitement to public disorder – even though this commission does not yet exist.
On Monday, Mondlane reiterated the claim that he is “the unequivocal winner” of the elections, and described the “intermediate results” (that is, the count at district level) as fraudulent.
The district results, he claimed, “show clearly the falsehood, swindle and most shameful fraud of the regime”.
But to date Mondlane has shown no evidence for his claims of victory. If, as he claims, his team has undertaken a parallel count of votes, then he should have his own copies of all the polling station results sheets (“editais”), and it would be simple to put them all on a website, where everybody can see whether they are credible.
(AIM)
Pf/ (423)
