
Eleicoes 2024: Processo de Votação. Foto de Santos Vilanculos
Maputo, 13 Jan (AIM) – The Mais Integridade (More Integrity) Electoral Consortium, a civil society platform for election observation, has filed an appeal with the Administrative Tribunal in order to prevent the National Elections Commission (CNE) from destroying the voting material used in the general elections held on 9 October.
According to “More Integrity”, which is headed by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), the CNE must not destroy the voting material because it may be used in order to hold accountable those who were involved in the electoral fraud, which gave victory to the ruling Frelimo party and its candidate, Daniel Chapo.
“If the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights is to intervene, by virtue of Resolution 27/2005 of 13 December, with which Mozambique ratified the Protocol on the Court of Justice of the African Union, the voting material in question could be useful for reconstructing the history of the elections, including for situations of administrative, civil and criminal liability of those involved”, reads the note.
The Consortium believes that that the destruction of the voting material eliminates any possibility of auditing or investigating the authenticity of the polling station results sheets (“editais”) and minutes used to alter the election results by the Constitutional Council (CC), the country’s highest body in matters of electoral law.
“17 January is the date approved by the CNE for the destruction of the voting material. The consortium has filed an appeal with the Administrative Tribunal aimed at preventing the CNE from destroying the voting material from the 2024 elections”, Mais Integridade says.
“Mais Integridade”, in its report about the general elections held last October, denounced various frauds, including ballot box stuffing, notably in the central province of Zambézia and the Northern Province of Nampula, the largest constituencies in the country.
The voting material to be destroyed includes the ballot papers cast at the polling stations. They would be crucial for a complete recount of the votes, which the CNE and the Constitutional Council have been trying to avoid.
The Chairperson of the Council, Lucia Ribeiro, even admitted that “irregularities” had happened, but claimed they did not “substantially influence”. the results.
She freely acknowledged that the Council had tampered with the figures. It had “corrected” the results received from the CNE, precisely to avoid the need for a recount. Since Ribeiro said this quite publicly, it can only be concluded that Ribeiro believed it preferable to alter the results than to count the votes properly.
(AIM)
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