Maputo — Mozambique's general elections, scheduled for 9 October, will take place without restrictions throughout the country, including in areas previously affected by islamist terrorism, promised the chairperson of the National Elections Commission (CNE), Anglican Bishop Carlos Matsinhe.
Speaking on Sunday during a visit to Dar es Salaam, Matsinhe claimed that the elections campaign is taking place normally in those parts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado, which had been plagued by terrorism.
"So far, throughout the country, in all the districts, we have not received any notification of anywhere where there are difficulties in organizing the voting', he said. "However, we must take precautions so that the materials can arrive in all the districts'.
"It's a challenge that we, and the defence and security forces in Cabo Delgado, are on the alert so that we can accompany the distribution of the material, as well as maintaining order and security on voting day', added Matsinhe.
He said that, in the event of any disruption of public order, "measures will be taken to ensure that voters in the affected areas can exercise their rights'.
Matsinhe claimed that, both inside Mozambique and in the diaspora, the election campaign was running smoothly, despite "some incidents'.
These "incidents', he said, were not on such a scale as to affect an overall positive assessment of the campaign. "There is a high level of political tolerance', he declared.
Matsinhe admitted that, despite its repeated warnings, the CNE is still short of the money it needs to run the elections.
"The election bodies are in constant communication with the government, in order to overcome the deficit', he said. He admitted that some of the expenditure is "extremely crucial', and payment must be made to ensure that the elections go ahead.
An unforeseen snag is that the CNE has suffered a cyber-attack. According to a report in the independent daily "O Pais', the hackers struck on Saturday morning.
As a result, the CNE website is currently inaccessible. The CNE says it is working to restore the website to normality. It is not yet known who carried out the cyber-attack or why.
