Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
24 October 2009
Maputo — A 22 member mission from the African Union arrived in Maputo on Friday to observe Mozambique's presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections, scheduled for next Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, the head of the mission, Roberto de Almeida, a former speaker of the Angolan parliament, said the team includes members of the Pan-African and national parliaments, officials from national electoral bodies, and members of civil society organisations.
The AU observers would look at the "regularity, transparency and equity" of the elections, after which, said Almeida, the mission "will draw up recommendations, if necessary, in line with the pertinent provisions of the OAU declaration on the principles governing democratic elections in Africa, and the African Union directives on observer missions".
The mission will deploy its members to all 11 provinces, and will observe all steps in the process until the announcement of the preliminary results. The mission will also meet with the Mozambican electoral bodies, and with representatives of the country's political parties.
Asked whether the close relations between the Mozambican and Angolan ruling parties, Frelimo and MPLA (of which Almeida is a senior member) would not affect the mission's work, Almeida replied "I am only the head of the group, and I will work with deputies of the Pan-African parliament, and with people who are in charge of civil society and human rights organisations. I will work on the basis of reports from this group".
He pledged that "the good relations between MPLA and Frelimo will not affect our work".
Also on Saturday, 72 short term observers from the European Union left Maputo for the provinces, where they will join the EU's long term observers who have been watching the election campaign for the past three weeks.
According to the deputy chief of the EU Observer Mission, Raphael Pouye, the short term observers will observe the voting itself, the count at the polling stations, and the first phase of tabulating the results.
Pouyé guaranteed that the observers will work in accordance with Mozambican electoral legislation and with the EU's own code of conduct for observer missions.
The observers who have flown from Europe will be joined by a further 26 observers from diplomatic missions in Maputo of EU member states, plus associated countries (Canada, Norway and Switzerland).
On polling day itself, the EU Mission will have 131 observers scattered across the country.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
