Maputo — The opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) on Monday formally submitted to the Attorney-General's Office in Maputo a complaint against the National Elections Commission (CNE), alleging that documents it deposited in the CNE had been stolen.

The CNE rejected the MDM's lists of candidates for nine of the 13 parliamentary constituencies, on the grounds that the MDM had not submitted the legally required documents. When the MDM appealed to the Constitutional Council, the Council upheld the CNE's decision.

The CNE claims that around three dozen of the MDM's candidates did not have any documents at all. They lacked the "processo individual" (the file containing the necessary documents, such as identity card, voter card and criminal record certificate), and were therefore no more than names on a sheet of paper. The MDM insists, however, that the files were delivered.

"We continue to say that our files were stolen in the CNE", said Lucas Barnabe Nkomo, who led the MDM delegation delivering the complaint to the Attorney-General.

Nkomo said the party had delivered all the documents it had given to the CNE when it delivered its nomination papers, plus a copy of the Constitutional Council's ruling. But he clearly did not deliver copies of the candidates' files themselves. The files for 250 full parliamentary candidates and the minimum requirement of 39 reserve candidates would have filled a couple of sizeable boxes, but all Nkomo delivered at the reception of the Attorney-General's Office was a bulky envelope.

Nkomo accused the Constitutional Council of basing its ruling solely on the check list of documents of the CNE, ignoring the documents provided by the MDM. In the MDM's view, the check list was falsified.

Asked whether this attempt to sue the MDM could have any useful impact, now that the elections are just 16 days away, Nkomo said "We are concerned about legality, and not about electoral deadlines".