Observers sue Zambézia Electoral Commission for refusing credentials
The Mais Integridade civil society platform for electoral observation accuses the Zambezia Provincial Elections Commission (CPE) of "failing to issue credentials for its electoral observers within the legal deadlines". Accreditation credentials are essential for observers and journalists to report on elections and enter polling stations.
The Mais Integridade consortium says that of 279 credential applications on the CPE's desk two weeks ago, only 45 have been issued in the past 15 days. The law is clear, stating that "It is up to the Provincial Electoral Commission to decide on the request for observer status in the electoral process, within five days of receiving the request". The law allows observers to monitor the elections because their presence helps to ensure that the elections are conducted fairly and transparently.
But Zambezia has a long history of refusing credentials to observers. According to Mais Integridade, the President of the Zambézia CPE, Emílio M'paga Supelo, claims that there are logistical difficulties in issuing the credentials and he does not guarantee that all the Consortium's observers will be accredited by Wednesday, the date of the vote.
Zambezia's CPE president is a repeat offender and untouchable
National Elections Commission (CNE) officials privately say the president of the CPE in Zambézia is a repeat offender, but nobody touches him because he is supposedly carrying out Frelimo party missions.
Credentials are an old problem. The Centre for Public Integrity (CIP) waited six months to obtain around 60 credentials. Submitted in March of this year, the process was deliberately delayed and applications were returned several times, allegedly because there were irregularities. In some cases, some of our observers' documents were lost and the file returned for allegedly missing documents.
In order to obtain accreditation, CIP had to process a new file and send it from National Elections Commission (CNE) in Maputo who confirmed that all the documents were there. Even then, accreditation was only granted after an order from CNE President Dom Carlos Matsinhe, instructing the president of the Zambezia CPE to comply with the law and issue the credentials. CIP obtained credentials in September.
Zambézia is one of the provinces in which several electoral offences were recorded in the past local elections, from electoral fraud to the discovery of clandestine registrations in the dead of night, the registration of voters on priority lists, among others.
Last year two of Zambézia's municipalities were returned to the opposition by the Constitutional Council (Quelimane and Alto Molócuè). The electoral bodies had given victory to Frelimo. Zambézia is also the province where more than 30 polling station staff are on trial for electoral fraud.
Mais Integridade’ is composed of: Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace (CEJP) of the Catholic Church, Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), Women's Associations of Zambézia (NAFEZA), Solidarity Moçambique (SoldMoz), Centre for Civil Society Learning and Capacity Building (CESC), Mozambican Chapter of the Southern African Institute for Media (MISA Mozambique) and the Forum of Associations of People with Disabilities (FAMOD).
STAE Deputy Director admits fraud last year, and demands action to stop it happening again
"In last year's municipal elections the kits of voting materials were broken open and as a result there were many ballot papers pre-voted in favour of a particular party," writes Inácuio Malamuge, deputy director of Zambézia STAE, in a 3 October letter to the STAE Director General in Maputo. Deputy directors are appointed by the parties in parliament, and he appeals for the deputy directors to be allowed to accompany the delivery of voting materials in order to prevent similar frauds this year. But the request was refused in Zambézia.
The position of opposition STAE deputy directors was agreed some years ago in negotiations with the late Renamo president Afonso Dhlakama, but in practice they are always prevented from monitoring the process.
Rioting and injuries as police and Frelimo block Venancio Mondlane’s motorcade
Police and Frelimo in Chimoio Thursday (3 October) tried to stop a planned Podemos motorcade with a very large crowd passing the Frelimo headquarters. Five people were taken to the emergency services of the provincial hospital. Four of them were injured in accidents involving motorcycles and a vehicle, while the fifth suffered a physical assault. The police fired several shots to prevent the Podemos motorcade from passing.
Some of the shots were fired from behind the Frelimo vehicle that was blocking the road. In addition to the Frelimo vehicle, on the video shared on social media, the police can be seen placing a vehicle to block the road behind the red vehicle used by Frelimo, in order to hinder the passage of the Podemos parade.
This all began at the last minute when the police changed the route that had previously been approved for the Podemos motorcade, to prevent it passing the Frelimo headquarters. A similar action was taken at the last minute, with the presidential candidate of the MDM, Lutero Simango, not allow to pass the Frelimo HQ.
Podemos members did not accept the change, and decided to use the approved route which passes in front of the Frelimo Party district headquarters along National Highway Number 6 (EN6). Frelimo used their vehicles to block the road. Video
The police put themselves in front of the Podemos motorcade to prevent its passage, and also put one of its vehicles across the road, preventing any other vehicles from passing.
The Podemos candidate Venancio Mondlane announced that his motorcade would use the original route and challenged the police commander to open fire against him, rather than against other people on the motorcade. “Commander, if you want to shoot, shoot at me”, he declared.
The caravan then forced its way through, and the Frelimo members gave way. Podemos supporters removed some obstacles placed on the road, such as motorcycles.
The police then went into action, and began to open fire, while a red Frelimo car was placed to block the road once again. At the same time, a police vehicle was placed across the road, blocking the passage. Video
How does election fraud work?
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CIP correspondents in two districts interviewed some school directors who will participate on voting day as polling station staff (MMVs). One of the interviewees is the director of a school in Derre, and was involved with some other directors and teachers in the last year's election fraud in Quelimane. They were mobilized from all the districts to work as MMVs and to put the fraud in Quelimane into operation.
They cite two strategies. On is the “special vote”. Civil society observers have a right to vote anywhere, with what are called “special votes”. The trick is that Frelimo members are accredited as observers. They vote multiple times, by going to several polling stations as observers and voting. The polling station chairs (returning officers), the deputy chairs, the secretaries, and the fourth scrutineer, are all carefully selected by Frelimo. The fourth scrutineer controls these people at the entrance to the polling stations and makes sure voters dip their finger in indelible ink before they leave. But the scrutineer allows the Frelimo observers to leave without inking their finger, so they can vote again. In last year’s municipal elections, in Quelimane one polling station is said to have had more than 50 “special votes”. And independent observers do report large numbers of clearly Frelimo observers.
There is also the model of delivering multiple ballot papers to civil servants. According to our sources, who took part in the most recent election fraud, there are state employees who are surreptitiously given more than one ballot paper, and in some cases up to ten ballot papers. These are state employees duly prepared and known. This strategy is also used for staff members accredited as observers. They receive several ballot papers, vote, and put them into the ballot box.
