Renamo protested against the use of heads of administrative posts and of district secretaries as polling station staff (MMVs) and trainers of MMVs. These people are often linked to Frelimo. The protest was made in a letter signed by Afonso Bulha Machone, Renamo’s representative, and sent to the Moamba District Election Commission (CDE) on October 18.
The issue has been raised by the opposition parties in their objections to the election, and it has been noted that polling station heads are often officials in Frelimo local branches. But it highlights an omission in the electoral law.
Machone cites a section of the electoral law that prohibits such persons from being observers, but the law does not impose similar restrictions on MMVs and their trainers.
Instead the control is supposed to be indirect. MMVs are appointed by STAE, in consultation with the parties. And the deputy directors of local STAEs appointed by Renamo must be part of the process. Either they did not pay attention, or they were illegally by passed.
Machone claims that the electoral process has been invalid from the hiring of electoral officers to the ballot, and thus Renamo objected to the results of the district tabulation published on 17 October by the Moamba Elections Commission.
