Mozambican judges warn of risk of ‘chaos’ in next general elections

The president of the Mozambique Association of Judges (AMJ), Esmeraldo Matavele, considered this Thursday “very urgent” to clarify the powers of the district courts in electoral matters, so that the next general elections do not lead to “chaos”.

“If there is no such clarification, we run the risk of some judges not agreeing to be mailboxes,” because “when they receive the case, they will simply send it to the Constitutional Court.” [Conselho Constitucional]and this can create chaos in society, this can create more confusion, more electoral conflicts,” Matavele said in a conversation with Lusa.

The AMJ President spoke on the sidelines of the official opening ceremony of the 2024 judicial year, which took place in Maputo, in the presence of the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi.

Esmeraldo Matavele argued that changes should be made to the electoral law to explicitly state that district judges have the power to order the cancellation of elections in district electoral tables or assemblies in the event of irregularities affecting the results.

“If the judge understands that this violation, whether it occurred at a particular table or throughout the entire polling station, is a serious violation that affects the result in a very significant way, he should have the power to declare the election void,” he emphasized.

The current electoral legislation of Mozambique, he continued, implicitly gives the power to annul the results of elections to the district courts, but the Assembly of the Republic must expressly enshrine this power.

“It is important that the community knows that there is a competent authority here in the county that dictates the law and sanctions any illegal behavior, and when that happens, we will be able to have a much more peaceful election, a lot more normal than this one.” The situation is that the Constitutional Court is calling for this competence,” he emphasized.

Esmeraldo Matavele noted that clarifying the powers of the judiciary in electoral matters is fundamental, given that the country will hold general elections on October 9.

“These are more complex elections that place higher demands on the resolution of possible electoral disputes,” the AMJ President emphasized.

In a resolution confirming and announcing the results of the sixth local elections held on October 11, 2023, the Constitutional Council of Mozambique states that the district judicial courts do not have the power to annul or order re-elections.

Some district-level judiciaries, in exercising their powers as electoral courts of first instance, even ordered the reversal and repetition of decisions that were subsequently overturned by the Constitutional Court.