12 November 2009
Maputo — The 15 year old child allegedly coerced by her school director into voting for the ruling Frelimo Party during the general elections of 28 October is named Maria Armando Edmaster, and the incident supposedly took place in the district of Nhamatanda, in the central province of Sofala, according to a report in the Beira daily paper, "Diario de Mocambique".
She was presented at a press conference in Beira by Fernando Mbararano, the Sofala provincial delegate of the former rebel movement Renamo, as evidence of electoral fraud.
Edmaster is a seventh grade pupil at a school in Metuchira, in Nhamatanda. She claimed that the school director, Diogo Jose Manuel, forced her to vote, despite the fact that she is a minor, and so had not registered as a voter and does not possess a voter card.
"The director told me that if I did not vote for Frelimo and for (President Armando) Guebuza, I would fail the grade", she said. "I was given the voter card of teacher Minoria Joao to vote, and then I returned the card so that the teacher could vote".
Edmaster also claimed that she had been kidnapped. She said that after voting she was taken to the director's house. A few minutes later she was collected by motorbike, and taken to the house of the local Frelimo first secretary, where she spent the night.
Mbararano said this alleged incident "is further proof that the electoral bodies committed fraud. So Renamo will not accept the results of these elections". He called for the dissolution of the Sofala Provincial Elections Commission (even though two of its members were appointed by Renamo).
When "Diario de Mocambique" contacted Raimundo Macajo, the Nhamatanda district director of STAE (Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat), the electoral branch of the civil service, he said that neither STAE nor the District Elections Commission had received any complaint from Renamo about minors voting.
"The norms say that in the event of irregularities, the party political monitors should immediately protest in writing, but this did not happen", said Macajo.
At this polling station, he added, no attempt was detected of the same voter card being used twice. (The polling station staff mark the register when the card is first used, which should make it impossible for it to be used again.)
Rabajo asked why opposition monitors at the polling station had failed to notice that a minor was voting, and that the same card was being used twice.
He regarded the Renamo claim as "an attempt to deceive public opinion".
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