Maputo — The European Union Election Observation Mission to Mozambique has praised the Mozambican general election held on Wednesday for its efficient organisation, but has warned of "transparency shortcomings" in the electoral process as a whole.
This praise for the nuts and bolts of electoral organisation, which is undertaken by the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), while rebuking the political body, the National Elections Commission (CNE) for its lack of transparency, is essentially the same as the position taken earlier on Friday by the Commonwealth Observer Group.
The head of the EU mission, Fiona Hall, who is a British deputy to the European parliament, told a Maputo press conference "Voting was conducted in a calm manner and the process was well organised. Polling procedures in 88 per cent of polling stations visited by EU observers were assessed as good or very good"
She regarded the polling station count too as calm and orderly, and this phase was assessed as "good or very good" in 70 per cent of the station s visited.
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The EU preliminary statement presented by Hall added that STAE was "very successful in overcoming the many logistical and organizational challenges related to the size of the country and the number of registered voters".
The EU mission found that freedom of speech in the media was respected during the election campaign, and that "the state-owned media covered the campaign by political parties in a neutral tone and reasonably balanced way".
But Hall was concerned about the confusing legal framework for the elections, pointing out that electoral legislation "is scattered through several documents lacking clarity and opening space for different interpretations".
Furthermore, the CNE violated some aspects of the law, notably by its failure to publish 30 days in advance lists of candidates and polling station locations and codes.
As for the CNE's rejection of a number of party lists for the parliamentary constituencies, she blamed this on "complex and unclear procedures".
Hall added that EU observers had seen state employees campaigning for the ruling Frelimo Party during working hours. They had also seen instances of Frelimo supporters deliberately obstructing campaign activities of opposition parties.
The EU Mission statement noted that opposition parties have queried the independence of the CNE. "The information provided by the CNE to the political parties and to the broader public remained generally insufficient", it remarked. "In addition, despite several requests made by EU observers and by political parties, the CNE did not provide full access to the number of registered voters per polling station, arguing that the law does not impose any obligation for this information to be made public".
Which is true - but the EU mission noted that the law also does not forbid publishing the information.
Furthermore, immediately after the close of polls, the number of registered voters is included on the results sheets posted on the polling station walls. If the numbers are public after voting, why they should they be secret before voting?
Asked about the expulsion from polling stations in Dombe (Manica province) and Changara (Tete province) of two Mozambican observers (from the main domestic election observation group, the Electoral Observatory, Hall said this is a matter that would be taken seriously "if our own observers can corroborate it".
As for the inflammatory statements made by Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama in Nampula on Thursday, suggesting that Renamo might "take power by force", Hall said "it is unacceptable that anybody in a democratic process should call for the use of force".
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