Mozambique held its fifth general elections on 15 October and, as ever, the National Elections Commission (CNE) and the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) wasted once again the opportunity to show all Mozambicans – and others – that they are state bodies that deserve credibility and the people’s trust.
However, in light of what happened on voting day, and the depressing situations that continue to emerge as vote counting goes on, it was proved that CNE and STAE are in tow of the ruling party.
The plethora of irregularities – ranging from stuffing boxes with ballot papers in favour of the ruling party and its presidential candidate, to vitiated results, and to the late opening of polling stations – detected in these latest general elections show that they were a piece of cheating, a farce of immeasurable proportions.
There is no doubt that CNE and STAE have been ! rendering a poor service to our young Mozambican democracy by allowing fraud-related situations to remain unpunished, and gaining ground and shape with each new election.
Recently, in the latest local government elections, we witnessed the fact that with close verification the possibility of cheating is almost none, even if the ruling party makes undue use of force and state property. That said, to label the latest elections “free, fair, and transparent” is tantamount to crass cynicism. It is, in fact, an act of hypocrisy and to treat Mozambicans as stupid people for placing their confidence in the country’s electoral organs every five years.
These latest elections showed us how the much touted “landslide, crushing, and convincing” victories were obtained. The instance of a data sheet at Matola’s Tunduru School showing that the Frelimo [Mozambique Liberation Front] candidate had 900 votes when only 800 voters were registered, and only 500 actually cast their bal! lots, exemplifies what we have been saying.
To fill electoral organs with individuals sympathetic to the ruling party is the way the mercantilist Frelimo regime has found to clean its hands so as to continue in power, and enjoying the resulting privileges.
Thus, the way the electoral process is carried out in Mozambique is, intrinsically, a piece of cheating regardless of much touted parity within CNE, as one cannot see how the full exercise of citizenship and democracy can happen.
No country is able to move forward for as long as electoral organs remain in tow of the ruling party, and state property continues to be used and misused for party purposes. By Newsroom
