Cabo Delgado registration shows impact of war
The impact of the war is clear in Cabo Delgado registration data published Wednesday 17 April. Highest registrations are in Ibo, Pemba, Metuge, and Mueda, which are hosting high numbers of displaced people. Many lost their documents when the fled, and will be anxious to get a voter’s card as an ID document.
Most people fled from Palma and Mocimboa da Praia and registration there is low, which suggests that many people have not yet returned.
And war-affected districts of Macomia, Muidumbe and Quissanga have very low voter registration.
IOM – UN Migration in January reported 542,535 displaced people in Cabo Delgado, of whom of whom 49% (265,842) are voting age adults. The districts hosting the highest numbers of displaced are Pemba (64,445 adults), Metuge (37,554 adults), Macomia (37,272 adults, largely displaced within the district), and Mueda (34,593 adults). Ibo hosts 8435 displaced adults, which as the table shows, is more than the voting age resident population. Displaced people are registering where they are currently living, which explains the high registration.
The highest rates of returns have been to Mocimboa da Praia (89,000 adults) and Palma (59,376 adults), which are both more than the number of adults the census said was living there. But they clearly have not registered.
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Renamo claims registration jump from 3,389 per week to 21,000 in one week in Massinga is fake
In Massinga district, Inhambane, Renamo accuses STAE of massively falsifying election data and registering minors to participate in the 9 October elections. In one week, 7-3 April, the district STAE announced the registration of 21,000 voters, yet in the previous three weeks the district registered only 3,389 voters per week. The first three weeks were confirmed by the parallel count done by Renamo monitors. Renamo argues that the huge jump is impossible and fake, and in the week of 7-13 April 17,000 “ghost” voters were registered.
For the week of 7-13 April, at the Massinga Professional School, Renamo monitors show that 111 registered but the new data from STAE claims 1,500 voters. At the Mudauca EPC, Renamo recorded 166 voters registered, but STAE clam that 1,562 voters were registered.
The registration of ghosts also occurred at the Massinga Secondary School, and at the EPCs of Tsinela, Coshuene, Murrie, Mahocha, Balane, Tevele, Rio das Pedras, Conze, Unguana, Matingane, Nhacache and Mucuacua.
Renamo says this operation is led by the head of the Massinga district STAE Department of Election Organisation and Operations, assisted by computer staff from the provincial STAE. The operation was allegedly authorised by the district director.
STAE has been registering people who are too young to vote, throughout the district, says Renamo. In Massinga town, children were registered at the Massinga Secondary and Professional Schools, and at the Conze, Mudauca, and Marul EPCs. Renamo also accuses STAE of allowing the installation of a group of strange youths at the registration posts and in the schools. The “Youth League”, as Renamo calls them, have a list of names of pupils too young to vote provided by the school directors.
Renamo also says that the collection of voter cards is under way throughout the district. This action is headed by the school directors, and by the neighbourhood secretaries, in the name of Frelimo.
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Renamo confirms fake equipment breakdowns in Alto Molócuè
Fake machine breakdowns continue in Alto Molócuè, Zambezia. A CIP Eleições investigation found that registration staff were only registering Frelimo voters and telling anyone else the equipment was broken. After hearing this report, the Renamo district election agent went to the registration posts in the municipality and found this was continuing. The staff told him that the mobiles heated up, or the system is not working, or that the cable had burnt, or recited many other malfunctions. The Renamo election agent notes that in the localities outside the municipality registration is progressing normally, while only in the municipality are so many posts out of order.
But when our correspondents visited registration posts in Chapala locality, at Enhenhe EPC and Malua EPC, they, they found that equipment had broken down. At the Enhenhe EPC, the equipment was the same that had earlier been used in Commua village, where it managed to register about 80% of the adults of that village, but the mobiles have not been working since they were transferred to Chapala. And our correspondents found that within Alto Molócuè in Pedreira Alta EPC, Pista Velha and Murapue activities had come to a halt, again supposedly because the mobiles are out of order.
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Journalists threatened in Nacala-à-Velha
Journalists of Ehale Community Radio, in Nacala-à-Velha, were threatened by agents of the State Intelligence and Security Service (SISE), the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) and the district police commander, allegedly because they reported some Frelimo secretaries for issuing declarations and lists of names of supposed members of Frelimo to facilitate their registration and obtain a voter card. The journalists were taken to the district command where they were forced to delete all their photos and recordings.
The incident occured on Thursday 18 April when the journalists were on their daily rounds to collect information and video and recordings for their radio broadcasts and virtual TV. Frelimo neighbourhood secretaries are accused of contacting the district police command, claiming that the journalists were disturbing the voter registration at the post installed in Coutinho locality.
The full bulletin in pdf is on
