19 November 2008
Maputo — Although no incidents have been reported from the vast majority of polling stations during the municipal elections taking place on Wednesday, the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the electoral branch of the Mozambican civil service, told AIM that disturbances forced a halt to voting in two places.
STAE press officer Lucas Jose said that at one polling station on Mozambique Island, in the northern province of Nampula, a gang of youths appeared and tried to shut down the station and send all the voters in the queue away. The polling station staff were obliged to call the police, who dispersed the youths, and voting resumed.
Jose said he did not know whether the youths were supporters of any of the candidates in Mozambique Island, or were simply trouble makers or drunks. Nor did he know whether the police had made any arrests.
In a polling station in the Maputo neighbourhood of Inhagoia, a group of supporters of one of the political parties (Jose said he did not know which one) demanded that voting be called off, because there was no electricity in the school that was being used.
In fact, even in Maputo many schools are not connected to the electricity grid. But voting is taking place during daylight hours, and all polling stations are equipped with battery operated lamps. In vain did the Inhagoia polling staff point these facts out: the disruptive group insisted that the polling station be moved to somewhere with electricity (though such a move would be flagrantly illegal).
Jose said the discussion went on for several hours before voting could resume. At this station, the staff did not request assistance from the police.
Despite the initial optimism from STAE that all the polling stations opened, if not promptly at 07.00, at least not more than half an hour later, reports from the network of "people's correspondents" established by the "Mozambican Political Process Bulletin", published by AWEPA (Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa), suggest that a significant minority opened an hour or even 90 minutes late.
With the high turnout across the country, the delay becomes significant, and some of the stations could be forced to stay open beyond the official closing time of 18.00. The electoral law states that all voters still in the queue must be allowed to cast their ballots before the staff are allowed to close the polls.
The Bulletin reports that in several municipalities the police are violating the clause in the law which states that they must stay at least 300 metres from the polling stations, unless the staff call on them for help in the event of disturbances.
Particularly serious are reports that policemen in Macia, in Gaza province, and in Monapo, in Nampula, were actually inside the stations, sitting next to the polling station staff, which could be interpreted as blatant intimidation of voters.
In Maputo, an AIM reporter witnessed a policeman strolling around inside a school which houses five polling stations. However, the queues of voters paid no attention to him, and he did not appear to be intimidating anybody.
In Beira, however, where the mayor, Daviz Simango, had warned of possible police intimidation, it is reported that the police presence is "virtually invisible".
The Bulletin's reporters also noted that some local officials of the ruling Frelimo party hung around in schools after casting their votes, and were urging voters to vote for the Frelimo candidates. This campaigning at the polling stations is illegal. In the southern city of Chibuto (which is a Frelimo stronghold), the Bulletin reported that staff at one polling complex were so fed up with this illegal activity that they suspended voting until the Frelimo neighbourhood secretaries had left the premises.
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