Mozambique Elections 187 – 27 November 2023 pm
The full bulletin in pdf is on https://bit.ly/Moz-El-187
CNE proposes repeat elections on 10 December
The Council of Ministers is expected to announce, by tomorrow, the date for the repeat of the local elections in Marromeu and parts of Guruè, Milange and Nacala-Porto. The National Electoral Commission (CNE) proposal is for the rerun to take place on Sunday 10 December.
The proposal apparently violates Law 7/2018 of 3 August, which states that elections declared null and void must be repeated by the second Sunday after the Constitutional Council’s decision. The decision was Friday 24 November so the second Sunday would be 3 December.
The much amended electoral laws were often changed in haste without considering practicalities. The CNE sometimes acts in secret because the law is wrong, for example the rule for allocating parliamentary seats to provinces is mathematically incorrect, so every five years the CNE ignores the law. Earlier versions of the electoral law allowed 30 days for a rerun, and eight days is clearly not enough time for the logistical issues involved in organising an electoral process.
The CNE says that it will be necessary to contract the company Académica, which supplied voting kits which include ballot papers, to get the material in place in good time. The short time means the order will be made without tender.
There will be 73 polling stations (mesas) with 511 polling stations staff (MMVs) for 51,770 registered voters
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Rerun to cost $336,000.
Will the same fraudsters run the new election?
The electoral fraud carried out by the managers of the electoral administration in the four municipalities is having a heavy cost for the state budget. CIP Eleições had access to the budget and reveals that the state will have to spend 21.5 million meticais ($336,000).
None of the polling station staff, STAE directors or district election commission chairmen involved and responsible for the fraud have been dismissed and there is no evidence that any proceedings have been initiated against any of them. This means that it will be the same managers who will head the process of repeating the elections on 10 December.