Voting will take place today in 28 polling stations that did not open Wednesday - 19 in Gilé and 4 in Maganja da Costa, both in Zambézia, and 5 in Germany, the CNE (National Elections Commission) ruled yesterday. In all cases voting materials did not arrive in time. The decision is controversial because the Zambézia Provincial Elections Commission (CPE) admitted that by mid-afternoon on voting day (9 October), voting materials kits had still not been transported to 51 polling stations in Gilé district. This means that there was no extension of the voting in 32 polling stations in Gilé which opened very late, when most voters will have stopped waiting and gone home.

Gilé and Maganja are both strongly opposition voting districts, and in the 2014 elections - the last ones with a more honest count - Renamo had more than two-thirds of the vote in these districts. In the 2019 elections the head of the Frelimo elections team, Celso Correia, announced that Frelimo must win in all districts, which it did. But it was highly likely that in Gilé and Magaja, and elsewhere, the results were amended during the district tabulation.

The CNE in its statement yesterday blames a polling station staff (MMVs) strike over the failure of the CPE to pay food subsidies before MMVs were sent into the districts. The CNE says the delay in Germany is because the air freight company decided that the indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers was a "dangerous cargo" which required special handling.