27 October 2009
Maputo — The chairperson of Mozambique's National Elections Commission (CNE), Joao Leopoldo da Costa, on Tuesday urged all Mozambican voters to turn out en masse at the polling stations "to exercise your right to vote in a conscious, peaceful and orderly fashion".
He was addressing the nation in a broadcast ahead of Wednesday's general and provincial elections, at which an electorate of 9.8 million will elect a president and national parliament for the next five years. For the first time the voters will also elect provincial assemblies that will monitor the work of provincial governments.
Much of Costa's speech was addressed specifically to polling station staff and to the provincial and district electoral bodies, urging them to lay aside their personal political beliefs and "work selflessly for peace, harmony, tranquility and freedom during the vote".
Polling station staff, said Costa, should "serve the people with respect and politeness, and uphold the electoral law. They should be aware that they will interact with citizens of differing political sensitivities and various levels of sociability, and so once again we appeal to their professionalism".
Costa added that the local electoral bodies must obey the law and the directives issued by the CNE. In particular they must allow the monitors representing political parties and the domestic and foreign election observers to accompany the counting of the votes. This is a marked contrast from the previous CNE, which oversaw the 2004 election.
In 2004, the CNE tried to prevent observers from doing their job, and blocked observation of district and provincial vote tabulation. Costa appears to be promising that nothing of the sort will happen this time.
The electoral bodies, he said, "have the responsibility to undertake with rigour, independence, impartiality, competence and objectivity all the electoral operations that guarantee exercise of the right to vote, and a transparent and fair count".
If everybody - from the voters themselves, to the political party monitors, the observers, the polling station staff and the police - all played their roles properly, "then we shall have free and tranquil elections", declared Costa.
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