Maputo — By mid-afternoon on Wednesday, the queues outside polling stations in central Maputo had largely disappeared, as the number of voters casting their ballots in Mozambique's general and provincial elections dwindled to a trickle.

It is not clear whether this means that most people did indeed vote in the morning, or whether early expectations of a very high turnout will be dashed.

Radio Mozambique reports a similar phenomenon across the country, with a good number of polling stations at a standstill.

There are still queues in some places, however. The radio reports people standing patiently in line at 15.30 in the southern town of Manhica, despite the scalding heat.

Despite promises by the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) that all polling stations would have the correct voter register, in fact there have been several reports of stations unable to open, either because they have no register at all, or the wrong one has arrived.

Thus in Mabalane district, in Gaza province, two villages, one with 50 and the other with 500 voters, found that their registers had been swapped. STAE claimed that it speedily resolved this problem.

More difficult was a case in Montepuez, in Cabo Delgado province, where the wrong register turned up. STAE had to send to the provincial capital, Pemba, for a new one, and by early afternoon the polling station had not yet opened.

The "Mozambique Political Process Bulletin", published by AWEPA (European Parliamentarians for Africa) and the Mozambican NGO CIP (Centre for Public Integrity), which has dozens of correspondents stationed across the country, said there were similar problems with missing electoral registers at some polling stations in Meconta district, Nampula province, and Machanga district, in Sofala province.

There were also reports that some polling stations opened late in Moatize, in Tete province, and in Manjacaze in Gaza.

A few incidents were reported. Occasionally the police were called on to intervene to calm down disorderly queues. This seems to have happened at polling stations where the staff were poorly organised and taking a long time to process voters.

One case of illegal campaigning was reported. According to the Bulletin, a neighbourhood secretary and a traditional leader stood at the door of two polling stations in Chibuto district, Gaza province, where they were telling people to vote for the incumbent president and Frelimo candidate, Armando Guebuza, pointing to his position on the ballot paper.