4 November 2009
Maputo — The Electoral Observatory, the largest and most credible body of Mozambican election observers, on Wednesday delivered its report on last Wednesday's election, and its parallel count, to President Armando Guebuza, in his capacity as candidate of the ruling Frelimo Party.
The Observatory's chairperson, Brazao Mazula, told reporters that he also took the opportunity to congratulate Guebuza on his victory, which is now beyond doubt, although the official results have yet to be released by the National Elections Commission (CNE).
The Observatory's parallel count, from a large and random sample of polling stations, gave Guebuza between 74 and 76 per cent of the votes, Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the former rebel movement Renamo, about 14 per cent, and the mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, leader of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), around nine per cent. The Observatory says that the margin of error in this count is around three per cent.
Parallel counts are a valuable check on the accuracy and integrity of official counts. In this case, the Observatory's count is very close to the provisional count done by the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the executive wing of the CNE, and to the results released by the provincial election commissions.
Mazula said the Observatory's report in general found the voting and count orderly, and praised STAE for the excellent organisation of the poll. He recognised that irregularities had occurred, but not on a scale large enough to invalidate the election.
"We requested a meeting with each of the presidential candidates, and the Frelimo candidate, Armando Guebuza, agreed to meet us this morning", said Mazula. "So we came to deliver our report and to congratulate him on the results which so far give him a very large margin of victory".
The Observatory has not yet delivered copies of the report to Dhlakama or Simango, because they are not in Maputo. Dhlakama is in Nampula and Simango is in Beira. Mazula said the Observatory is considering delivering their copies to the Renamo and MDM offices in the capital.
Mazula also urged Dhlakama to keep calm. He said the Observatory was concerned at the inflammatory statements the Renamo leader made in Nampula the day after the elections when he declared that "Mozambique will burn", and threatened that Renamo might "take power by force".
"We hope that the Renamo candidate will make the maximum use of his thought, calm and wisdom, because any statement made by a political leader has a very different meaning from one made by a simple citizen", he said.
He warned that wild statements by Dhlakama damage his own image. The observatory thus hoped that he would calm down, and control "the extremists in his own party".
The Observatory is a coalition between the three main religious organisations in the country (the Catholic Church, the Christian Council of Mozambique and the Islamic Council) and a number of major NGOs, including the Human Rights League (LDH). Mazula himself chaired Mozambique's first CNE, set up to manage the 1994 elections.
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