Mozambique’s democracy has always had an unusual shape. In a show of transparency, votes are counted at the polling station in the presence of parties, observers and journalists. But the electoral laws have always allowed elections commissions and STAEs at district, provincial and national level to change the results in secret – something unheard of in other electoral democracies. In past electoral cycles, observation, parallel counts, and a sense of justice in the electoral and court system balanced the openness of the polling stations with the closed world of the elections commissions.
For example, Changara district in Tete has become a standing joke – it is the healthiest district in the Mozambique because no one dies, everyone votes, and they all vote for Frelimo. But in 2009, the CNE (in secret, of course) excluded 50 Changara polling stations because the ballot box stuffing was particularly grotesque. And in 2013 them Constitutional Council carried out its own investigation after the parallel count showed an opposition victory in Gurué but the official results gave the win to Frelimo. The CC found fraud by the Gurué district and Zambézia provincial elections commissions, and forced a re-run of the 2013 municipal elections in Gurué, which the opposition won.
But neither the CNE nor the CC intervened in response to much more gross misconduct in 2018 municipal elections and 2019 general elections. Instead, transparency took on an entire new meaning – that the power of the Frelimo party machine was openly demonstrated to observers, journalists and other parties. In Gaza where 329,430 more people were registered than there are voting age adults, the respected heads of statistics and of the census were dismissed when they defended the accuracy of the census. And the head of civil society observation in Gaza was gunned down by a police death squad. In Zambézia more than 1000 genuine civil society observers were refused credentials, but more than 10,000 Frelimo affiliated “observers” were given credentials and in polling stations openly intimidated polling station staff, party delegates, domestic observers, and in some cases, even international observers.
Although journalists and this Bulletin’s correspondents were more constrained than in the past, they remained largely free to report. Indeed this was probably the best reported election – the Bulletin had over 450 correspondents and other media and civil society groups reported in more detail than in the past. We were free to report the open theft of elections in at least four municipalities in 2018, where parallel counts showed opposition victories but official counts carried out in secret gave victories to Frelimo. We were free to report a 2019 landslide in which Frelimo won every district and every province. And we were free to report in detail that this was the worst multi-party election in Mozambique.
Transparency is no longer about the elections themselves, but about demonstrating the power of the Frelimo party machine to control the electoral process.
Details of three elections
There were three elections on 15 October 2019:
• Presidential elections in Mozambique and in the diaspora.
• Elections for the national parliament (Assembleia da República, AR). The constituencies are the 10 provinces, Maputo city, Africa and Europe.
• Provincial assemblies in the 10 provinces but not Maputo City, Africa, or Europe. Constituencies are the districts, plus a constituency for the entire province. Electors vote only once but the vote is applied to both district and province lists. The head of the provincial list with the most votes is elected governor.
Validation and proclamation of results- Constitutional Council
Validação e Proclamação dos Resultados Eleitorais – Conselho Constitucional
Acórdão no 25/CC/2019 de 22 de Dezembro (2nd correction – 2ª correção)
