Mozambique Political Process Bulletin

Issue 42 – 4 September 2009
Editor: Joseph Hanlon (j.hanlon@open.ac.uk)
Deputy Editor: Adriano Nuvunga
Material may be freely reprinted. Please cite the Bulletin.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Published by CIP and AWEPA
CIP, Centro de Integridade Pública
Av. Amilcar Cabral 903, 1º (CP 3266) Maputo
Tel: +258 21 327 661, 82 301 639
Fax: +258 21 327 661 e-mail: cipmoz@tvcabo.co.mz
AWEPA, the European Parliamentarians for Africa
Rua Licenciado Coutinho 77 (CP 2648) Maputo
Tel: +258 21 418 603, 21 418 608, 21 418 626
Fax: +258 21 418 604 e-mail: awepa@awepa.org.mz

CC breaks with past:
Only 3 presidential candidates approved
Of nine Presidential candidates who submitted applications to the Constitutional Council (CC), only three were accepted to stand in the 28 October election: Armando Guebuza, Afonso Dhlakama and Daviz Simango. Each candidate must submit notarised signatures of 10,000 people backing their nomination.
Some candidates are accused of “gross attempts to cheat the law and dupe the Council itself”, and the CC has submitted relevant papers to the Attorney General (Ministério Público) and the Ministry of Justice, calling for criminal and disciplinary proceedings, the CC said in its 14 August ruling.
The new hard line is a radical departure for the CC. Indeed, one member of the CC, Manuel Franque, voted against the decision, on the grounds that the CC in 2004 accepted candidates with equally blatant violations. He added that the CC should have given candidates time to correct errors.

Special election coverage with 100 journalists

During the election period we will have more than 100 journalists reporting from all parts of Mozambique, and we will publish more frequent Bulletins, with at least two reports on polling day, 28 October.
Our website has been upgraded. For rapid election news:
In English: http://www.elections2009.cip.org.mz
Em Português: http://www.eleicoes2009.cip.org.mz
A complete file of election bulletins is available:
In English: http://www.bulletin.cip.org.mz
Em Português: http://www.boletim.cip.org.mz
We are encouraging the public to report any incidents or problems. “Correspondentes Populares” can send text messages to 82 986 5659 or 84 386 5659
or e-mails to eleicoes2009mz@gmail.com
The CC did two checks. First it went through the lists to eliminate names that did not meet the basic conditions, for example people who had signed multiple times for the same candidate, signatures not recognised by a notary, or no voter number.
As in the past, a number of minor candidates submitted manifestly false or unacceptable signatures. The CC found many pages of names were blatantly copied out of the register, sometimes in alphabetical or numerical order, and all written or signed by a few people. Raul Manuel Domingos, Khalid Husein Mahomed Sidat, Leonardo Franciso Cumbe, Artus Ricardo Jaquene, and José Richardo Viana Agostinho are all accused of this.
Mozambique Political Process Bulletin 42 – 4 September 2009 – 1
In addition, Cumbe, Jaquene, and Viana Agostinho are accused of photocopying pages and putting them in again, simply to make up the numbers. Four candidates were excluded at this stage. Of 12,000 signatures submitted by Viana Agostinho, 11,970 were rejected immediately.
Because the electoral register is now computerised, the Constitutional Council (CC) was for the first time able to do a detailed check of the remaining lists. The law specifies that no voter can sign the nomination papers of more than one candidate, and this caused serious problems. Again there were problems with proposers with wrong voters card numbers or who had signed twice using different names. Both Jacob Sibindy and Raul Domingos were excluded at this stage.
The CC is particularly critical of “negligence” by some notaries over recognition of signatures which were obviously false.

Three elections on 28 October

Three elections will take place on Wednesday 28 October – for President of Mozambique, for national parliament (Assembleia da República), and for provincial parliaments or assemblies. Parliamentary elections are by a party list system. For the national parliament, each province is a constituency with its own lists; from provincial parliaments the district is the constituency.
Tables below give more details.
The CC ruling, Acórdão 08/CC/09, is posted on http://www.cconstitucional.org.mz/
Summary of results of validation of proposers, with the reason for invalidation
Based on Acórdão nº 08/CC/2009 Mozambique Political Process Bulletin 42 – 4 September 2009 – 2
CC reasons for invalidating proponents of the nine candidates
Armando Emílio Guebuza
Daviz Mbepo Simango
Afonso M. M. Dhlakama
Jacob Neves Salomão Sibindy
Raul Manuel Domingos
Khalid Husein Mahomed Sidat
Leonardo Francisco Cumbe
Artur Ricardo Jaquene
José Ricardo Viana Agostinho
a) Names repeated for same candidate.
b) Names repeated for different candidates.
d) Names repeated but with different voters numbers
f) Voters number illegible.
g) Voters number incomplete or badly written.
h) Voters number invalid.
i) Voters number with more than 18 digits.
j) Name but no voters number.
k) Names illegible.
l) Erasure and change of number without verification by notary.
n) Forms with signature space blank or crossed out, but with a declaration from the notary recognising the signature.
o) Forms that say “cannot sign” but without a fingerprint and with no explanation from the notary.
p) No recognition of signature by notary.
q) Forms with many names and signatures written by the same person or just a few people, which were nevertheless apparently recognised by notaries.
s) Same name multiple times, sometimes with signature, sometimes with fingerprint, and sometimes saying cannot sign.
t) Name and signature different.
u) Same fingerprint for multiple names.
v) Ink blot instead of fingerprint.
w) Pages photocopied, but with the photocopies signed by a notary.

Based on Acórdão nº 08/CC/2009
Mozambique Political Process Bulletin 42 – 4 September 2009 – 3
CNE misses more deadlines
Definitive lists of parties and candidates should have been published by the National Election Commission (CNE), by law, on Monday 31 August. The CNE said it could not meet the deadline because the parties left everything to the last minute, submitting lists on the final day and then waiting as long as possible to submit corrections. By Thursday the lists had still not been published.
This, in turn, has delayed any decisions on party financing. This is critical for the opposition parties. The formal electoral campaign begins on 13 September, and some parties are depending on this money to print posters, hire sound systems for rallies, and so on.
Five hurt in Milange election brawl
Five people were injured, one seriously, Monday 31 August, when Frelimo militants tried to disrupt a rally by Renamo President Afonso Dhlakama in the local market (feira) of Milange, and Renamo supporters responded violently.
When Dhlakama began the rally, a group of Frelimo youth invaded the market with a very loud sound system and zoomed around the market at high speed on noisy motorcycles. Renamo members reacted violently, damaging the sound system, and a teacher in the Frelimo-linked Mozambique Youth Organisation (Organização Moçambicana da Juventude, OJM) on a motorcycle was seriously injured.
Young Frelimo militants responded by mobilising more people, mainly children, and set up an ambush in front to the Frelimo headquarters to attack the Renamo party when it passed that way after the rally – on its way to Pensão Fernandinho where the delegation was staying, and party militants on their way home.
So when the Renamo caravan passed the Frelimo headquarters it was confronted by young men and children. In fact, the group mainly used sticks and whips to attack women, old people, and
other innocent bystanders on their way home from the market. One old man cycling toward the market was knocked off his bicycle and attacked.
Later on Monday, Renamo militants responded by attacking the Frelimo headquarters with sticks and stones, breaking some windows.
Before Dhlakama arived in Milange, there had been problems at a previous meeting in Majauna, near the Malawi border. There, too, Frelimo miltants surrounded the rally and there were scraps between Frelimo and Renamo youths.
Four shots were fired during the incidents on Monday in Milange. Provincial police commander Manuel Zandamela said these were shots in the air by Dhlakama’s security guards, who were trying to stop the attack on Pensão Fernandinho and on Renamo leaders leaving the rally. But there have been several reports the shots were fired in the air by a drunken border guard. Celeste Bié
Flags symbolise disruption of MDM activities
Neighbourhood secretaries in various parts of the country are forcing the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) of Daviz Simango to take down their flags, on the grounds that local officials have not given permission to the MDM to fly a flag, our correspondents across the country report. Similarly, “cultural groups” wearing Frelimo t-shirts and capulanas have been disrupting MDM activities. It is a tiny harassment, but part of a growing strategy which Frelimo insiders call its “opposition shock treatment” (tratamento de choque à oposição).
On his most recent visit to Gaza on 24 August, Daviz Simango was greeted not just be his own party members, but also by a group of 20 people waving Frelimo flags and singing and dancing. And when Simango went to the MDM headquarters near the main EN1 highway to meet party activists, the Frelimo activists were outside singing and dancing.
There had already been problems. The neighbourhood secretary on 19 August forced the MDM to take down its flag. And on the day before
the Gaza rally, there had been an attempt to set fire to the headquarters, which was prevented by party members sleeping at the headquarters.
In Maputo city the approach has been different. The day that the MDM opened its headquarters in Xipamanine and successfully raised it flag, Frelimo raised its flag at the local municipal offices. On a wall of the office is a poster saying “vote Frelimo”. Mozambique Political Process Bulletin 42 – 4 September 2009 – 4
The MDM headquarters in Maputo was broken into on the night of 28/29 August; although doors and windows were damaged, nothing was taken except the Mozambique flag on the wall. The MDM flag beside it was left untouched.
509,000 more voters
registered
Despite widespread problems, 454,000 more voters have been registered inside Mozambique and 55,000 outside the country. In all, this is 26,000 more than expected, and brings the total registration up to 9.5 million.
The results were reported at a national meeting of STAE (Secretariado Técnico de Administração Eleitoral, Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration) 24-26 August in Naamaacha. Reports from the provinces underlined the technical problems including the late arrival of material, constant problems with the registration computers, insufficient civic education, and the difficulty of doing registration during the school term when schools and teachers were occupied.
The Bulletin and the independent press highlighted the continuing problems, including poor training, lack of fuel, problems with generators, and location of some registration posts.
Some registration posts never opened. In Muidumbe, Cabo Delgado, registration never took places in the villages of Matambalale, Lyantua, Lutete, Saba-Saba and Litapata. In Gondola, Manica, registration teams only reached Muda-Serração, Chinete, Matsinhe and Pungu-sul in the last week of the registration period. There were many reports of registration brigades facing many breaks in operation due to lack of materials and computer failures.
There have been complaints about the lack of transparency around the registration process. Although STAE says it passed its registration target and it appears that more than 90% of adults have registered, this is hard to check because STAE has refused to release any statistics to show how its targets were set.
Weak civic education
campaign
There are 2,100 civic education agents mobilising people to vote on 28 October. Electoral authorities recognise that this is too few, but say they do not have money for more people.
The strategy is use existing facilities as much as possible, including the media, election centres which are being established in each province, cars with loud-speakers, and posters in urban areas. Agents are going out into communities in pairs on bicycles.
There are plans to use community leaders to mobilise people in their neighbourhoods, but no community leaders have yet been seen in voter education programmes.
Indeed, although the civic education campaign has been under way for more than a month, our journalists report little evidence of it.
For example, in Niassa local reporters have not seen civic education agents in Mavago, Marrupa and Metarica districts. In Gaza, civic education agents have not been noticed in Massingir, Chicualacuala and Mabalane. In Inhambane, their absence has been noted in Govuro, Inhassoro and Panda.
Mozambique Political Process Bulletin 42 – 4 September 2009 – 5