Africa-Press – Mozambique. A complete parallel count of the results from Wednesday’s municipal elections in the town of Chiure, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, indicates that the main opposition party, Renamo, won by some 800 votes.
According to one of the latest bulletin on the municipal elections from the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), observers from the civil society coalition “Mais Integridade” (“More Integrity”) were present at all 62 polling stations in Chiure.
They took note of each and every vote read out by the polling station presiding officer, and chalked up on a blackboard.
The “Mais Integridade” observers counted 12,166 votes for Renamo and 11,366 for Frelimo, a difference of exactly 800.
But the “intermediate count” announced by the Chiure District Elections Commission claimed 12,503 votes for Frelimo, and 11,766 for Renamo, which would be a Frelimo victory by 737 votes.
READ: Mozambique Elections: Ruling Frelimo party wins in all Cabo Delgado municipalities
CIP argues that the discrepancy suggests that the polling station results sheets were secretly altered after the election.
CIP challenges the Chiure Elections Commission to publish the figures on which it based its decision. Then the two sets of editais, those used by “Mais Integridade” and those used by the Commission can be compared.
“For elections to be free and fair”, the CIP Bulletin says, “results cannot be decided in secret. There must be transparency”.
For More News And Analysis About Mozambique Follow Africa-Press
