Alleged breakdowns of the Mobile-ID computers in Alto Molócuè are deliberate. Our correspondents visited eight voter registration posts there and found "breakdowns" at all of them. We found that supervisors have received instructions not to register any citizen who does not belong to the ruling party.

Our attention was called to this when, in the presence of our correspondent, a citizen arrived at the registration post in the Pedreira Alta EPC. He was not allowed to register, on the grounds that the machine was out of order. This young man made a quick phone call and after a few seconds of talking he handed over the cell phone to the supervisor. Minutes later the young man was able to register.

The next day the CIP Eleições team went to Pista Velha EPC, saying they had lost their voter cards, and wanted to apply for new cards. But they were told “the machine is not working”. The team withdrew from the post and positioned itself in a place where it could accompany voters entering and leaving. It was not long before a citizen went to the post and was registered. He is a member of Frelimo. When asked by our correspondents he confirmed he had registered. But when other potential voters enter the brigade, they were turned away because “the machine is not working”.

The registration posts in question are at the Pedreira Alta EPC, the Sede EPC, Mulutxasse EPC, Malua 2 EPC, Pista Velha, Futuro Melhor EPC, Novanana EPC, and Murapue EPC. In three posts would-be voters were told that the mobiles had not been working since Tuesday, 9 April.

This trick was widely used in voter registration last year ahead of the municipal elections - telling opposition voters the mobile-ID was broken, but registering Frelimo voters.