Maputo — Despite all the warnings issued by the National Elections Commission (CNE) and its executive body, the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), polling station staff in at least two areas have broken the law by expelling election observers.

The two observers concerned are both Mozambicans, and were watching the elections for the largest and most credible national election observation body, the Electoral Observatory.

One incident took place in the small town of Dombe, in Sussundenga district, in the central province of Manica. According to the "Mozambican Political Process Bulletin", edited by AWEPA (European Parliamentarians for Africa) and the Mozambican NGO CIP (Centre for Public Integrity), the observer, Marceta Andre Madina, arrived on Tuesday, and intended to stay the night in Dombe, and start observing as soon as the polls opened on Wednesday morning.

He was told he could not stay overnight - an order which is not only illegal but unconstitutional. Mozambican citizens can go wherever they like inside their own county, and do not need police authorisation.

When he returned on Wednesday morning and presented his credential at a Dombe polling station, the returning officer called the police and had him arrested. He was handcuffed and beaten. But the police did not charge him with any offence, but simply threw him out of town.

Much the same thing happened to an observer from the Electoral Observatory in Changara district, in the western province of Tete. According to the Bulletin, citing Observatory sources, this man (whose name AIM does not yet have) presented his credential and was told that observers were not recognised.

The returning officer called the police, who told the observer to leave immediately. Changara was the scene of the worst fraud in the previous general election in 2004, when dozens of polling stations reported impossible turnouts of 100 per cent or more.

In principle, counting procedures at Mozambican polling stations are extremely transparent. But if observers and political party delegates are kept out, then there is no-one to see that the procedures are observed, and absurd lies about the numbers of people voting and who they voted for become possible.