Parliament (AR) today debates electoral law changes, and the AR commission proposes only two important changes. If there are protests, the district court will first review the copies of results sheets and minutes submitted by parties and if there are irregularities the court can force a recount of the votes. But only the Constitutional Council can declare the election void and order a new vote. This should resolve the angry battle between the CC and the High Court.
The Commission also accepted one opposition demand for more openness during the district count. The laws would be strengthened to say that at district level "observers and the media shall attend the tabulation of results and shall be notified in writing" of the time and place. This should stop Frelimo running secret counts at district level.
But the parliamentary commission rejected all other opposition calls for increased transparency. This means that provincial and national elections commissions can continue to make changes to the results in secret and without explanation. The commission also rejected the opposition demand that elections commissions should publish their various tabulation documents, such as the tables of votes by polling station and by district, and the CNE parallel count. These may remain secret. Thus Mozambique will continue with a level of secrecy unknown in other electoral democracies.
Several smaller changes are also proposed for approval by the commission.
In response to a fraud last year where some polling station heads simply stopped counting, the commissions propose that after voting but before the count, the polling station staff have a break of up to one hour. But once they start the count, it must be "uninterrupted" until it is finished and the editais have been posted and copies given to parties, observers and media.
Ballot boxes will be redesigned to allow only one ballot paper at a time to be entered, preventing ballot box stuffing by folding ballot papers together.
Ballots by people not in the register book - polling station staff, media, observers, police, and those who have voters cards but who have mysteriously disappeared from the book - are to be counted together with all other ballots.
Finally, one change is made to increase the power of political parties. Under the present law, the elected governor is the head of the list that receives the most votes for provincial assembly, and if the governor dies, quits or is replaced, then the number two on the list is the replacement. Under the proposed change, the political party could select any party member who has been elected to the provincial assembly.
A proposal to legalise opinion polls during the election campaign was rejected by the commission.
The proposals come from the 4th commission, Public Administration and Local Power (Administração Pública e Poder Local). Mozambican elections are governed by 14 laws, and these proposals change three laws: Lei n 2/2019, de 31 de Maio, que altera e republica a Lei n 8/2013, de 27 de Fevereiro, que estabelece o Quadro Jurídico para a Eleição do Presidente da República e dos Deputados da Assembleia da República; Lei 3/2019, de 31 de Maio, que Estabelece o Quadro Jurídico para a Eleição dos Membros da Assembleia Provincial e do Governador de Província, e Lei n 4/2019, de 31 de Maio, que Estabelece os Princípios, as Normas de Organização, as Competências e o Funcionamento dos Órgãos Executivos de Governação Descentralizada Provincial.
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