Africa-Press – Mozambique. Some polling stations have been duplicated, and they seem to be polling stations where Frelimo members were improperly registered first, before others. This is apparently to allow thousands of people to vote twice, or to be voted for by ghosts. This is ballot box stuffing on a grand scale by creating fake polling stations.
For example, in Mocuba at the polling centre at Posto Agricola II primary school, the same two registration books are in two different polling stations, meaning 946 people can vote twice.
The first two polling stations in the list are 080235-01 and 080235-02. The 080235 is EPC Posto Agricola II and the 01 and 02 mean they were the first two register books to be filled. Each is full, with 800 voters. But at the end of the list are the same two register books, but split up to make them look different. The eighth polling station is 080235-01A with 500 voters. The ninth polling station is 080235-02/080235-02B. The letters A and B indicate that a voters roll has been divided in parts – which is permitted for various administrative reasons. But the original book cannot remain as a polling station. And part of the second book has apparently been included, repeating 946 voters.
Also in Mocuba, in EPC Antigos Combatentes, register book 080221-06, only has 39 voters, so it makes sense to combine it with another registration book. But what has been done is that the first registration book 080221-01 which has 800 voters has been combined in a new polling station as book 080221-01/080221-06, which has 583 voters repeated from the first book.
In Alto Molocue in EPC Malua II there are three polling stations:
080753-01 with 800 voters,
080753-01A with 600 voters, and
080753-04/080753-01B with 2225 voters from the first book and 200 from the second.
This means the first book of 800 voters is repeated.
The repeated registration books are typically 01 and 02. During the registration there were widespread reports the Frelimo voters were registered first, particularly teachers and civil servants who were improperly registered from lists without the voters actually being present.
The trick here is that these Frelimo voters are registered twice and thus can vote twice at different polling stations, or more likely that staff at the extra polling station will simply stuff the ballot box – either with real ballot papers or more likely simply adding hundreds of votes to the final results sheet, called the edital. Because there are widespread reports of Frelimo being able to manipulate naming of polling station staff, these polling stations are likely to have Frelimo heads, who ensure the ghost voters are recorded.
Finding duplicated register books requires detailed searching of official records, and is continuing. But duplicated register books have been found in many places such as Quelimane, Morrumbala, Alto Molocue, and Monapo.
The head of logistics of Renamo, in the city of Chókwè, says that almost all the logistics for the election campaign, namely flags, posters and foodstuffs, were destroyed in an act of arson on Wednesday (4 October). Unknown assailants threw petrol through the window, and set the office on fire.
The Renamo office was a small space, which burnt down easily, with all the material that was inside.
And late on Wednesday shock groups of the Frelimo Party were involved in violent clashes with Renamo supporters, who were undertaking their campaign activities in the Ntomeni market, located in the 3rd neighbourhood, the most populous neighbourhood in the city. The two sides resorted to sticks and stones for the clashes. One Frelimo supporter was violently attacked by Renamo members. The police had to resort to force to solve the problem, and avoid worse violence.
The city of Chókwè has often been the stage for violence against the opposition. In almost all the past elections, party offices or homes of members of the opposition have been set on fire or vandalised.
During the celebrations of 4 October, Peace Day, Renamo and Frelimo members clashed in Quelimane. It all began when the Renamo members, headed by the Mayor, Manuel de Araújo, invaded Heros Square ,forcing the governor of Zambezia, Pio Matos, to interrupt his speech. Renamo first held its own ceremony to mark the anniversary of the 1992 General Peace Agreement, in Quelimane’s Peace Square.
To prevent the Renamo members from entering the place where the ceremonies were taking place, young members of the Frelimo youth group OJM formed a cordon. Then chaos broke out. Renamo opted for scuffles and for obstructing campaign material (T-shirts torn from the body). Police intervention was needed to calm the spirits of those involved.
The Matola District Law Court, in Maputo province, this Thursday (5 October) postponed to 10 October, the trial of three of the five people charged with electoral crimes and denounced by Renamo and the MDM, during the voter registration.
The judge in this case, Mateus Pequenino, said that the postponement is due to a request made by one of the parties.
For his part, parliamentary deputy Saimone Macuiane, who represented Renamo, said the case should have been tried earlier so that, if the accused were found guilty, they could be removed from the electoral administration bodies before voting day.
The Renamo political delegate and head of information in Mandlakazi took no part in their party’s campaign this Thursday morning (5 October) because they were summoned to appear at the police station tomorrow (6 October). The reason for the summons is not known.
Some members of Frelimo were caught filming the MDM campaign in Mandlakazi, Gaza province. According to Henrique Sitoe, the head of the MDM list in Mandlakazi, the Frelimo members tape videos and take photos, on the command of their chiefs, so that they can identify those who are campaigning for the MDM in order to intimidate them later. One filmer was obliged to delete the videos and the other was taken to the district police command by the MDM members, led by their mayoral candidate, to be questioned by the district commander. At the police command, MDM forgave the protagonist in exchange for him deleting the videos and the photographs.
While their parents watched impassively, some children in Mocuba, in Zambezia province, paraded in the campaign in favour of Frelimo, through the Tomba de Agua 2 neighbourhood.
In several municipalities, there are reports of children being used to vandalise electoral material of the political parties.
In his exhortation on 25 September, the Chairperson of the National Elections Commission (CNE), Bishop Carlos Matsine, asked the political parties, coalitions, and independent groups of citizens to avoid using children in their election campaign rallies and parades.
The appeal of the CNE chairperson has fallen on deaf ears. Last Monday (2 October), children spent hours waiting for the arrival of Renamo President Ossufo Momade in Nampula city, to address a rally as part of the election campaign. When we spoke with the children, they said they had been mobilised in Mutauanha neighbourhood, to give a cultural performance, because of the arrival of their President..
Civil society observers were the target of strong pressue from Frelimo, in Maputo province on Tuesday (3 October). First, they were interrogated and intimidated in Matola-Gare, and they were later expelled from the T3 market. They were not allowed to observe the head of the Frelimo list.
In Chibuto, Gaza, the police prevented observation of the door-to-door campaign of Frelimo and obliged the observers to hand over their notes.
In Massingir, in Gaza, the police told the CIP observers that they should not cover the Frelimo election campaign. Renamo also did not allow the observers to accompany its election campaign.
Vehicles without number plates, and flying Frelimo flags, are circulating in Chókwè.
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