Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Hugh Mccullum
11 April 2008
opinion
Harare — Following delays in the announcement of Zimbabwe's presidential election result, for which the opposition MDC-Tsvangirai has petitioned the High Court, we reproduce an article published in 1999 about the same scenario in Mozambique's polls.
The second multi-party election in Mozambique's history resulted in such a close result that election officials were forced to violate their own laws to announce the victors a day later than the December 20 deadline (two weeks after polling ended).
But the close outcome has left the Renamo opposition frustrated and threatening to lodge a series of complaints before Mozambique's Supreme Court, which, if rejected, it says, could "throw the country into political confusion and render it ungovernable." It was a close two-way race from the outset of the long-drawn-out campaign which finally resulted in narrow victories for incumbent President Joaquim Chissano and the ruling Frelimo Party in the 250-seat Assembly of the Republic. Frelimo ended with 133 seats, four up from the previous election in 1994. Renamo lost four seats coming in with 117. There were no seats won by smaller parties. Chissano held onto his 200 000 majority announced in preliminary results and won with 52,29 percent of the votes against 47,71 percent for Dhlakama. The defeat of the former rebel movement, Renamo and its Electoral Coalition of 10 small parties was a bitter one which may well have long-term repercussions as Dhlakama has already threatened. Shortly after the results were announced, a visibly delighted Chissano said the Frelimo victory was a "vote of confidence in me and Frelimo to govern the country with the necessary equilibrium and responsibility".
However, a bitter Renamo called the results a "democratic farce" and warned that if Frelimo put pressure on the Supreme Court to validate the elections it would create conditions for difficult days ahead.
Dhlakama stopped short of stating Renamo would return to civil war, but said that "today begins a complex period in the political life of Mozambique." The elections, lauded by regional and international observers at the end of the voting conducted between December 3-5, as an example of a well-run election, began to deteriorate as the complex counting system droned on, leaving voters, citizens, diplomats, observers and the media - to say nothing of the two parties -- increasingly tense as rumours flew about the capital, resulting in charges and counter-charges amid threats from Renamo that it would boycott the results regardless of who won.
Finally at 0830 on the morning of December 22, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) made it official but tension has mounted throughout the country as the delays continued. The CNE seemed oblivious to the turmoil in civil society. It took its time recording the initial vote counts done by the 8 300 polling stations, the district commissions and the 11 provincial commissions as well and the thousands of contested and spoiled ballots from across the country.
By law, it was to have made a final announcement of the results by midnight December 20. The time came and went. "They were not finished," said Rev Jaimisse Taimo, the Methodist pastor who chaired the CNE, "and we will make an announcement when we are finished." When asked about the law stating the results must be made by a specific date, Taimo replied the CNE could not be bound to a specific date. In an effort to make certain that the elections could be untarnished, the laws are both very specific and very complex. The campaign ended two days before the voting began December 2.
On the second day of voting, due primarily to heavy rains in the populous Zambesia province, the law allowing an extension of one day's voting was invoked, although ultimately some 8 000 voters of the 7,1 million registered could not get to the polls due to impassable roads and bad weather. One political analyst explained that both the law and the CNE's interpretation of the Electoral Act were structured to make the system as transparent as possible and to extend every possibility to the voters.
"Unfortunately, perhaps the law was too specific because there is so little trust between the two major parties and it was too strictly observed by the CNE who failed to comprehend what tensions and confusion such a long delay could have on the populace and on the politicians," said Obed Baloi of Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo.
Once the extended voting ended, the polling stations had 48 hours to report to the district offices who were to pass on the voters' lists and results to the provincial electoral commissions where counting would be verified.
The contested and spoiled ballots were sent directly to CNE in Maputo for adjudication. The provincial stage was to take five days and then verified results sent to CNE who were to make an official and final announcement by December 20.
The process began to break down almost immediately. Many rural voting stations had almost no infrastructure and their 48 hours with no electricity, transport, telephones or faxes plus bad weather stretched into days. Meanwhile, parallel voting counts were being done by Renamo, since the law provides for all political parties to be involved in counting at all levels. Renamo had no hesitation in revealing its results at almost daily Press conferences where they insisted they were winning in six of 11 provinces.
The figures released were picked up by some media and non-governmental organisations to a point where Renamo was declaring itself the winner before the CNE had made even preliminary announce- ments. The resulting confusion created considerable tension which, combined with Renamo's allegations of fraud and other irregularities, created a tense atmosphere in the country which forced Interior Minister Almeininho Manhenje to put his police force on full alert as Renamo, second-in-command Raul Domingos stated the elections should be declared null and void and a rerun organised next year by the international community.
Sources from within the international donor community told Sardc that it was odd that Renamo was claiming fraud when most of the incidents of what Domingos termed "low level fraud" in the northern provinces were committed by Renamo members.
One source said he also found it strange that Renamo could call for elections supervised by the international community when it is known that several foreign observer missions monitored the process and declared the elections free and fair and a number still remained in the country well after polling days.
Renamo has been waging what appears to be a psychological disinformation campaign, aimed either at minimising its defeat by attributing it to electoral fraud or discrediting the process altogether. A few days after the elections Rahil Khan, a prominent Renamo leader, said in an interview that he feared that their members could resort to violence should Frelimo and Chissano be declared winners. Regional and international observers were virtually unanimous in their praise of the election campaign and actual voting but most declined to call the elections "free and fair", pointing out that vote-counting was also part of the process and, perhaps prophetically, expressing at the complex vote counting process.
The CNE's decision to postpone their announcement is also controversial. "After weeks of insisting on following the letter of the law and not release preliminary results, the CNE then goes and blithely ignores the law and postpones the announcement beyond the legal limit.
"This does not bode well for strengthening the culture of democracy and rule of law which it, above all, should be upholding," said a veteran political observer.
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