The Renamo and MDM election agents in Milange, in Zambezia, are accusing STAE of changing the data in almost all the registration posts in the municipality. In all, more than 5,000 voters are not in the data which the Renamo and MDM monitors followed at the posts during the entire voter registration.
Renamo laments that almost all its appeals and complaints have been rejected by the electoral administration and management bodies, from the registration posts up to the District Elections Commission (CDE).
The MDM election agent, Fernando Bonifácio, says that the registration brigade members failed to cooperate with the monitors from his party, which culminated in a ban on sharing data about the registration. For the MDM, the purpose behind refusing to share data was to corrupt the data.
Fernando Bonifácio also laments the failure to display the registration books containing the voter rolls at the registration posts known to be under opposition influence, such as the case of the 7 April, Eduardo Mondlane and Cha Oriental schools, among others. According to the opposition parties, the registration did not run smoothly.
For the FRELIMO Party, the registration took place without upsets, although it recognises that there were small failings.
Sofala, Zambézia and Nampula were the provinces with the largest number of posts that did not publicly display the registration books. In Zambézia, many registration posts in Alto Molócuè, Milange and Guruè districts did not display the books so that citizens could consult them.
On final day, impossible to check voters rolls on 1/3 of registration posts, observers report
Observers found one-third of registration posts were not open or voters rolls (cadernos) were not available to check on Thursday (8 June), the final day when voters rolls were supposed to be available for checks. Two-thirds of registration posts were open but with few people checking their registration.
In Quelimane nearly all posts were open and had copies of the registers, but no one could see them all week because "it had not been authorised by STAE". The same occurred at EPC Josina Machel in Morrumbala and EPC de Murápue in Alto Molocue.
In Mocumba, Zambézia, 3 of 5 posts were closed. In Niassa, posts in Cuambe and Insaca all were closed. In Cabo Delgado, all posts in Mocimboa da Praia were closed.
In Matola, 5 of 12 posted visited were closed. In Maputo city, 4 of 24 posts were closed.
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Excuses for not showing the cardernos seemed quite thin. In Maputo city, in Quarteirão 12 - Relento, in Kamavota, the cardernos were locked in the computer box and not available. In Mocumba at EPC 25 de Setembro Cizam, they said there was no space to display the books.
Many posts did not have working computers so it was impossible to correct errors on the spot.
Mais Integridade civil society observers visited 130 posts, of which 28 were closed (22%) and 14 (11%) were not displaying the cadernos (register books). Thus on the final day when people could check the voters roll, it was not possible at one-third of registration posts.
Frelimo can now unilaterally amend the Constitution of the Republic
Since 13 June, the Frelimo parliamentary group in the Assembly of the Republic can amend the Constitution of the Republic without needing votes from the opposition. For five years, any amendment could only be passed with the votes of three quarters of the deputies in the Assembly of the Republic, which meant Frelimo would have needed votes from the opposition to change the Constitution (see Bulletin 40). The current Constitution was five years old on 12 June, having been in force since 12 June 2018, which means the number needed is just two-thirds, and Frelimo has two-thrds of assembly members.
The Assembly has announced that it will hold an extraordinary sitting in August, and one of the points on the agenda will be amending the constitution
