31 October 2009
Maputo — The Election Observer Mission from the SADC (Southern African Development Community) Parliamentary Forum on Saturday issued an interim statement concluding that the Mozambican general elections held on Wednesday "were a true reflection of the will of the people of Mozambique".
The Forum consists of parliamentarians from SADC countries from both ruling and opposition parties, and is independent of SADC governments. Its observer mission consisted of 50 parliamentarians and staff members from nine SADC member states. This was the third time the Forum has observed Mozambican elections.
Reading the statement, the mission's leader, David Matongo of Zambia, said that the political environment for the elections was characterized by "a relatively high degree of tolerance and peace among the contesting political parties and voters", and "the atmosphere was largely conducive to the freedom of expression and of assembly".
The mission found that on the whole the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) was prepared for the elections, and except for a few isolated cases, the election materials were distributed on time. However the mission called for improved access by the public to the voters' roll.
"Computerisation of the voters' roll would greatly contribute to the modernization of the electoral process", said Matongo.
The Mission found few signs of voter education. It could see only a handful of voter education posters, and noted that Mozambican Television (TVM) "did not publicise the voting procedures and the sample ballot papers".
As for media coverage, the mission found it "relatively balanced", and declared that the Mozambican media "is not subject to undue restrictions".
But, like the observer missions from the Commonwealth and the European Union, the Forum criticized the National Elections Commission (CNE) for not sharing information in good time "through consultation with stakeholders, especially political parties on the procedures, processes and requirements of nominating candidates at all levels, so as to minimize instances of excluding parties from contesting".
The CNE claims that it was the disorganization of the parties themselves that led to the exclusion of their lists from some or all of the 13 constituencies. But observer missions suggest that the CNE did not make it fully clear to parties what was required, and what irregularities in documentation could be corrected.
Matongo admitted that the CNE might well have been right to exclude the parties concerned. "But these matters should be discussed well in advance so that everyone understands the process", he said.
Also like other missions, the Forum disapproves of the extraordinarily long time between polling day and the declaration of results. The CNE has until 12 November to announce the final results. The Forum urged the Mozambican authorities "to consider reducing the long wait for declaration of election results from the current 15 days to a shorter period to enhance transparency and reduce anxiety".
The forum praised Mozambique for allowing Mozambicans in the diaspora to vote. Asked by AIM if the Forum would recommend that all SADC states adopt the same policy, Matongo said it was the Forum's agreed policy that "SADC citizens in the diaspora would be given the opportunity to vote, as is already the case in South Africa and Mozambique".
Asked to comment on the claims made by Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the main opposition party Renamo, on Thursday that democracy was "dead", that "Mozambique will burn" and that Renamo should "take power by force", Matongo pointed out that such inflammatory declarations are not in line with the norms and standards for conducting elections in the SADC region.
"If contesting parties are not happy with aspects of the process, each country has its own institutions to which such issues can be referred", he said.
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