A total of 53,270 voters are called today to repeat voting in 75 polling stations to choose new mayors in four municipalities in Mozambique, with police calling for calm.
The re-voting on October 11 will take place this Sunday on 18 tables in Nacala Porto (province of Nampula), three in Milange and 13 in Gurué (Zambezia), as well as on all 41 tables in Marromeu (Sofala), four municipalities that were not included in the electoral process approved by the Constitutional Council of Mozambique (CC) due to irregularities.
According to the National Electoral Commission (CNE) of Mozambique, the repeat of local elections is budgeted at 41 million meticais (595 thousand euros), and 525 polling station members are involved in the process.
The election commission announced Wednesday that poll workers involved in illegal activities in the Oct. 11 election will be excluded from the new ballot.
The October elections were strongly contested by the opposition and civil society, who condemned the alleged “mega-fraud”.
The date for the new vote was approved on November 28 by Mozambique’s Council of Ministers, following a proposal from the Technical Secretariat for Elections (STAE) and the CNE.
Mozambican Police General Commander Bernardino Rafael has called for calm during this Sunday’s repeat of local elections in four municipalities, warning of “opportunism” and guaranteeing that public order will be ensured.
“We are not enemies of any party, we are for public order, we are your police and we ask you to cooperate with us so that the vote will be successful for the country and the country should emerge victorious,” Bernardino said. Rafael, Commander General of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique.
“We will defend there only so that there are no changes in public order and security, so that there are no opportunists. So cooperate with us,” he further urged.
Mozambican NGO CIP said on Wednesday that there were “clear signs” of violence that occurred on Sunday during the repeat of municipal elections in Nacala Porto, given the “clear gap” between Renamo’s leadership and bases in that municipality.
“EPK [Escola Primária e Completa] Murupelane in Nacala Porto, where some polling stations will repeat the election, was set on fire by unknown assailants early this Wednesday morning. The information was confirmed by local residents and the Murupelane district secretary,” said the Center for Public Integrity (CIP), which monitored the sixth local elections on October 11 and the counting process across the country.
The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, the largest opposition party) submitted an appeal asking for the re-run of these elections to be suspended in these municipalities, but to no avail.
Current legislation establishes that if elections at one or more polling stations are declared invalid, “the corresponding electoral acts are repeated until the second Sunday after the decision of the Constitutional Council.”
On 24 November, the Central Committee of Mozambique declared the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) the winner of the 11 October municipal elections in 56 municipalities against the previous 64 declared by the CNE, with Renamo winning four, and ordered elections to be repeated in four others.
According to the ruling, approved unanimously and read by the President of the Constitutional Court, Counselor Judge Lucia Ribeiro, Frelimo maintained its victory in the country’s two main cities, Maputo and Matola, in which Renamo claimed victory, despite cutting some 60,000 people. votes – the total number of votes allocated to the party in power.