The ruling of the Consitutional Council explains that the use of historical figures of Renamo by the breakaway party, Democratic Revolution (RD), “may cause confusion among the electorate at the moment when they are expressing their wishes”. The RD symbol has pictures of the first Renamo commander, André Matsangaiça, abd his successor, Afonso Dhlakama. That might lead voters “to vote by mistake for the candidates of the RD, when in fact they wanted to vote for Renamo”.

The Constitutional Council considered that the RD’s argument that there is no design similarity between the symbols of the two parties, in terms of the Law on political parties, should not be accepted because the question of the similarity or identity of symbols and acronyms “cannot be reduced only to the visual or graphic element”. Instead, the substantive identity of the symbols must be analysed, taking into account their impact on the electorate, which should make a free and conscious choice, without confusion, when voting for candidates.

The ruling says that the freedom given to political parties to choose their names, acronyms and symbols cannot be regarded as absolute or unlimited. For it runs up against limits in the Constitution, and particularly in the Law, according to which, in the case under consideration, electoral symbols may not coincide or be confused with those of other parties, coalitions, or independent groups of citizens.

Renamo had presented its complaint against the RD on 14 July at the National Elections Commission (CNE). It wanted the RD banned from the municipal elections on the grounds that it was using Renamo symbols. But the CNE threw this appeal out, because the Frelimo supporters on the CNE argued that there was no similarity between the symbols used by the two parties. The CNE noted that the Renamo symbol consists of a partridge, ten yellow stars and three arrows, displayed horizontally from left to right; while the RD symbol is a blue square against a white backgrounds with a picture of the first Renamo commander, André Matsangaiça, in the lower left corner, and that of his successor, Afonso Dhlakama, in the upper right corner.

The decision was put to a vote, and the Frelimo majority on the CNE voted against the Renamo complaint. Renamo did not accept this and, that same week, it lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Council. (For more details, see Bulletin 115).