Renamo has won by landslides in both the capital city Maputo and its neighbour Matola, the largest city in Mozambique, according to parallel counts. But the district elections commissions in both Matola and Maputo have announced that Frelimo has won. Courts in both cities have demanded recounts. By Thursday (26 October) the National Elections Commission must announce results in all 65 municipalities, and submit those results to the Constitutional Council. which will have to adjudicate on the huge gaps between official results and parallel counts.
Counting is done in the polling station and after the count the presiding officer writes a results sheet (edital), which must be posted on the polling station door. Stamped and signed copies must also be given to party representatives present. These are used for parallel counts. An issue in many places this year was that presiding officers, under instructions from Frelimo, refused to sign editais where Frelimo lost, or delayed until early the next morning. Thus some editais given to parties are not signed.
Parallel count confirms massive Renamo win in Matola
BRenamo is winning in Matola with 59% of the vote compared to 34% for Frelimo, with a margin of 80,000 votes. This bulletin and the Mais Integridade civil society observers have been given access to Renamo's copies of the results sheets (editais) of 791 of 895 (88%) polling stations (mesas) in Matola, which shows the landslide. Turnout was 60%, high for municipal elections.
Results for all parties, in ballot paper order, for these 791 mesas, are: MDM 18,570 (5.7% of valid votes), Renamo 190,159 (58.9%), and Frelimo 110,337 (34.2%).
Two small parties, two citizens lists, and one coalition together gained only 1% of the vote:
- ANAJD (citizens list Associação Nacional de Assisténcia a Jovens Deliquentes) 788 (0.2%),
- E-POVO (Coligação Esperança do Povo) 392 (0.1%),
- ND (Nova Democracia) 1,452 (0.4%),
- ASTIMO (citizens list Associação dos Trabalhadores Informais de Moçambique) 240 (0.1%), and
- RD (Revolução Democrática) 519 (0.2%).
Renamo landslide in Maputo
Renamo won over Frelimo in Maputo city by more than 65,000 votes, with a turnout of 57%. This Bulletin and the Mais Integridade civil society observers have been given access to Renamo's copies of the results sheets (editas) of 833 of 889 (94%) polling stations (mesas) in Maputo city, which confirms the large victory.
The results for the 833 polling stations for the major parties are: MDM 23,760 (7%), Renamo 198,207 (55%), and Frelimo 132,850 (37%). Renamo won in the five main urban districts of Maputo while Frelimo won in Katembe and Kanyaka.
More than 12,500 votes fraudulently taken from Renamo in the two cities
The Renamo victories occurred despite significant fraud by Frelimo polling station staff taking at least 12,500 votes from Renamo. A common fraud by polling station staff is to take votes for opposition parties and make them invalid (nulo). This is done in two ways.
One way is during ballot counting, which is done in polling stations and often in the dark with ballot papers piled on the floor. During the counting someone puts an extra mark on ballot papers for Renamo, making them invalid.
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The second and easier way takes place when the final edital is being written, and the polling station presiding officer simply moves votes from the Renamo column to the invalid (nulo) column.
In Mozambican elections in cities, normally fewer than 5% of ballot papers are invalid. In Matola 105 polling stations had 8% or higher invalid votes. In 25 mesas, the invalid votes were between 25% and 49%, which never occurs in normal elections. We estimate that 2% of all ballot papers, about 7,000, were fraudulently declared invalid. .
As with Matola, we estimate the more than 5,500 votes were stolen from Renamo in Maputo by calling Renamo votes invalid.
It is a large number, but Renamo's margin is so big in both cities that the fraud did not change the outcome.
