Maputo — The Constitutional Council, Mozambique's highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, on Monday announced that it has confirmed the validity of four nominations for the post of President of the Republic, and has rejected seven others.
The four candidates accepted by the Council are:
1. Daniel Chapo, proposed by the ruling Frelimo Party; 2. Ossufo Momade, the leader of the main opposition party, Renamo; 3. Lutero Simango, leader of the second opposition party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM); 4. Venancio Mondlane, once a senior figure in Renamo, and now backed by the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD).
All four had produced valid identification documents and the required number (between 10,000 and 20,000) supporting signatures from registered voters.
The Council said it has checked each and every one of the supporting signatures, to eliminate any duplications, since no voter may support more than one candidate.
The signatures were also checked against the data base on voter registration, kept by the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat, to ensure that each signature was accompanied by a valid voter card number.
Chapo, Momade, Simango and Mondlane all passed these tests, and their other documents (such as their identity cards and criminal record certificates) were also valid.
As for the seven would-be candidates from minor parties, none of them presented the requisite number of valid signatures.
Domingos Zucula, of the Ecology Party (PEMO), told the chairperson of the Constitutional Council, Lucia Ribeiro, that he was submitting 10,730 signatures. They were immediately counted, and it tuned out that Zucula only had 4,490 signatures.
Tania Antunes, the election agent for Feliciano Machava, of the Movement for Development and National Reconciliation (MDR), admitted that she was only bringing 1,100 signatures. She said the car carrying the other signatures had been involved in a traffic accident.
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The Council immediately ruled out both Zucula and Machava.
The other five would-be candidates did seem to present the requisite number of signatures. They were:
1. Miguel Mabote, of the Labour Party (PT); 2. Dorinda Eduardo, of the National Movement for the Recovery of Mozambican Unity (MONARUMO); 3. Rafael Bata, of the United Republican Party of Mozambique (PRUMO); 4. Mario Albino, of the the Nampula-based AMUSI (Action of the United Movement for All-Round Salvation); and 5. Manuel Carlos Dias dos Santos Pinto Junior.
But as the Council checked the signatures of these candidates they found that they were riddled with fraud. Some were obviously copies of names or voter card numbers from the electoral roll, with forged signatures.
Others had clearly been written and signed by the same person. Some had no signature at all, or no voter card number, and some had not been recognized by a notary.
Every time there is a presidential election, minor parties try to pull the wool over the eyes of the Constitutional Council by presenting fake signatures. And every time they fail.
The Council said it "condemns vehemently these acts which violate the fundamental right of political participation of citizens'.
Falsifying documents is a crime, but to date nobody has been punished for forging signatures for a presidential election.
