Maputo — Riot police were called into the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Monday when a group of deputies from the former rebel movement Renamo seized the rostrum and tried to make it impossible for the Assembly to continue its work.

At stake was the election of five members of the Constitutional Council, the body that rules on matters of constitutional law, and validates election results. The Council has seven members - one, its chairperson, is appointed by the President of the Republic, one is appointed by the Higher Council of the Judicial Magistrature (CSMJ), the regulatory body for judges, and the other five are elected by the Assembly.

This "election" is peculiar in that the seats are not contested. The election is in proportion to the number of seats held by each political party in the Assembly - which means that the ruling party proposes three candidates and the opposition Renamo-Electoral Union coalition proposes two.

In the past, for elections to the Council, and to other bodies on which the Assembly is represented, there has never been a problem. The candidates have been consensual, a single list has been drawn up, and the vote has been unanimous.

But this time Renamo proposed a candidate to whom Frelimo had strong objections. She is Isabel Rupia, a judge on the Maputo City Court, who has also been an assistant attorney-general, and was once head of the anti-corruption unit in the Attorney-General's office.

Rupia meets the minimum conditions for membership of the Constitutional Council, as specified by the Constitution itself. These are that candidates must be at least 35 years old, and have at least ten years relevant experience.

But her career has also been stained by three disciplinary offences. In 1994, the CSMJ found her guilty of negligence and disinterest in a case she was hearing, and fined her. In 2008, she was accused of abandoning her post as a judge. After she was relieved of her duties as assistant attorney-general, she should have returned to the Maputo City Court. But she did not report for duty for another six months.

The CSMJ also found her guilty of breaching the sub judice rules in an interview she gave to the right wing weekly "Zambeze". For these two offences she was punished with 90 days of forced inactivity (a form of judicial suspension).

Renamo argued that this was all in the past, and her name should be accepted, but Frelimo believed her disciplinary record raised serious questions about Rupia's suitability for membership of the Constitutional Council.

Frelimo deputy Abel Safrao pointed out that the Constitutional Council is one of the country's sovereign bodies. Electing members to such a body required "great seriousness and responsibility" from the Assembly. Choosing somebody unsuitable would be to risk losing all the credibility the Council had built up over the years.

For Renamo, Antonio Muchanga painted Rupia as a victim. He claimed that she had been fined in 1994 because one of the suspects in the case was represented by lawyer Albano Silva "who is the husband of the Prime Minister". This was a breathtakingly dishonest claim - in 1994, Silva's wife, Luisa Diogo, was not even a member of the government, let alone Prime Minister. That was all in the future - in 1994 Diogo was a World Bank official, and Silva had a much higher public profile than she did.

Muchanga defended Rupia's lengthy absence from her workplace, and claimed "Frelimo is abusing its power. What is Frelimo afraid of?"

Antonio Frangoulis, a Frelimo deputy who was once a senior police officer, warned against using only the formal requirements stipulated in the constitution. Other matters had to be considered, such as the ethical suitability of candidates.

But Renamo insisted precisely on the formal issues. For Francisco Machambisse, it was simple - Rupia met the age requirement, she had a law degree, and she had 19 years experience. So there was no question that she should be allowed onto the Council, without any further questioning.

Renamo tried to hit back by questioning one of Frelimo's candidates, Domingos Cintura, alleging that he had less than ten years professional experience. But this claim rang hollow because two Renamo jurists, Maximo Dias and Jose Monteiro, signed the opinion from the Assembly's Legal Affairs Commission, which said that Cintura met all the formal requirements.

With the debate over, how should a vote be taken? Nobody doubted that there should be a vote of some sort. For Renamo the vote was just a formality - put the three names proposed by Frelimo, and the two Renamo nominees on a list and vote for it.

Assembly chairperson Eduardo Mulembue first suggested a secret ballot election - and indeed a ballot box and voting booths were prepared, ready for use. The suggestion outraged Renamo, who shouted it down.

Mulembue said the only alternative was an open vote on each of the names. The Renamo proposal for business as usual, with a single list that everybody could vote for, was quite impractical, he pointed out, when one of the names was controversial.

At this point, the head of the Renamo parliamentary group, Viana Magalhaes, asked for a ten minute recess for Renamo deputies to discuss among themselves. Showing remarkable tolerance, Mulembue agreed, though this interval was used merely for Renamo to decide how best to sabotage the vote.

When the session resumed, and Mulembue attempted to begin the voting, the Renamo deputies rushed the rostrum and occupied it. They chanted "Down with the dictatorship!" and the deafening row caused by dozens of chanting voices made it look as if the session might have to be interrupted.

But Mulembue had two weapons. The first was his power as chairperson to call on the police to restore order. So a contingent of half a dozen riot police entered the chamber. This made no difference - Renamo continued chanting.

Mulembue declined to use the police to physically expel Renamo from the rostrum. Instead they were deployed to protect members of the Standing Commission, the Assembly's governing board, from any possible Renamo attack.

Then Mulembue used his second weapon - his control over the microphone. Struggling to make his voice heard above the Renamo chants, he proceeded to call for a vote on each of the five names proposed. The Renamo deputies continued chanting, but the Frelimo deputies voted. The result was that four of the five names were approved by 145 votes to zero, and the fifth - Rupia - was rejected with nobody voting for her. The Renamo deputies were too busy shouting to use their voting cards.

Since the Assembly's standing orders equate refusing to take part in vote with absence from the chamber, the 40 Renamo deputies who took part in the riot should all lose a day's wages.

The Renamo parliamentary group contains a total of 90 members - over half of whom were absent. Some dropped out of parliament months ago, a few have gone to the northern city of Nampula, where Renamo is holding its long awaited Congress, while others, who were present in the morning, left early because they wanted nothing to do with a riot. They included all those Renamo deputies believed to support the breakaway Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).

The four Constitutional Council members elected include three prominent jurists who have already served one term on the Council - Lucia Ribeiro and Joao Nguenha nominated by Frelimo, and Manuel Franque, nominated by Renamo. The newcomer, Domingos Cintura, practices law in Nampula, and has been legal advisor to the mayor of Nampula city, and to the northern branch of the Human Rights League (LDH).

As for the fifth member, the man Renamo wanted to replace, Orlando da Graca, will remain on the council until Renamo nominates someone acceptable to the entire Assembly.

Pf/ (1301)