Renamo demands annulment of elections

Maputo, 18 Nov (AIM) – Mozambique’s main parliamentary opposition party Renamo on Monday demanded that the general elections held on 9 October should be annulled.

Addressing a press conference at the Renamo Maputo headquarters, Renamo leader Ossufo Momade pointed to the gross irregularities that had marked the elections. The preliminary results of those elections claimed that the candidate of the ruling Frelimo Party, Daniel Chapo, won the presidential poll with 70.67 per cent of the votes, while Momade only won 5.81 per cent.

But the opposition claims that these figures are wildly fraudulent. Momade argued it was the “theft of votes” that was at the root of the wave of protests that had resulted in deaths across the country.

Momade said the abuses occurring in Mozambique, involving the police, were taking place under the gaze of the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) which is doing nothing to stop the deaths from police bullets during the demonstrations.

The leading force behind the demonstrations is not Renamo, but the independent presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane, backed by the Podemos party. Mondlane claims that he won the presidential election and that Podemos topped the parliamentary poll. He has yet to produce the polling station results sheets that could confirm these claims.

Only the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, has the power to annul elections. Momade did not say what he will do if the Constitutional Council does not annul the elections. He made no threats of any return to war.

He did, however, propose the formation of “a caretaker government” that will ensure the full operation of state institutions, while preparations are made for holding free, fair and transparent elections. The composition of such an interim government is far from clear.

Momade admitted the need for new electoral administration bodies, but avoided the key question of separating the election bodies from the political parties.

The politicisation of election management dates back to the 1992 peace agreement between the government and Renamo, when Renamo successfully inserted a clause giving it the right to appoint a third of the members of the National Elections Commission (CNE).

Subsequent amendments to the electoral legislation often came down to haggling over how many members of the CNE each party could appoint. And since Frelimo had more members of parliament than Renamo, Frelimo always appointed more members of the CNE.

Twice, in 2008 and 2012, when the legislation was being amended in a parliamentary commission, Frelimo suggested breaking the tie between elections and political parties. Frelimo called for a CNE drawn exclusively from civil society, with no party representatives.

We shall never know how this would have worked, because the Renamo parliamentary group, simply refused to discuss it, thus killing the proposal stone dead.

AIM reporters recall horrified Renamo parliamentarians declaring “The elections belong to the political parties!”

(AIM)

Pf/ (479)