{"id":49014,"date":"2023-10-23T20:37:50","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T20:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings"},"modified":"2023-10-23T21:00:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T21:00:30","slug":"local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings","title":{"rendered":"Local election disputes, new judges lead courts to historic rulings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. <\/strong><\/span>Mozambican analysts believe that the public challenge to the results of the local elections and the emergence of a new wave of young judges has created an environment of independence in the courts, but warn that justice remains controlled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat may be happening is some encouragement for greater independence in the courts,\u201d said analyst Fernando Lima, emphasising that \u201cthere is a public incentive for the courts to take these positions\u201d of recognising flaws in the tabulation of election results.<\/p>\n

Lima noted that it is \u201cunprecedented\u201d for several Mozambican courts to make decisions ordering the annulment of all electoral acts and the repetition of the ballot or the recounting of votes.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, he criticised the fact that other courts reject appeals on the grounds of mere procedural assumptions, circumventing the analysis of substantive issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also seeing that the same courts, that is to say, district level courts, are ruling as in the past, in other words, they are making all sorts of excuses not to rule on the substantive issues,\u201d he emphasised.<\/p>\n

This attitude, he continued, shows that \u201cthe courts and judges are also under pressure\u201d from other powers, especially in districts where the difference in votes between the candidates is very small.<\/p>\n

Fernando Lima was cautious about an apparent new \u201cjudicial activism\u201d in Mozambican courts, emphasising that the unprecedented decisions may be \u201ccircumstantial\u201d.<\/p>\n

La\u0301zaro Mabunda, a university lecturer and editor of the Electoral Bulletin of the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), argued that there is a \u201cnew wave of young judges\u201d independent of political power and with new ideas about electoral law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a new wave of young judges and these judges probably don\u2019t have much of a history of political connections,\u201d said Mabunda.<\/p>\n

This is a generation of magistrates who are in touch with \u201ccurrent legal literature\u201d and who have \u201cthe horizon of growing in their careers with technical and legal merit\u201d, he continued.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, judges are part of society and are following the public revolt caused by the vices that have distorted the electoral truth, he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustice itself is following the popular revolt against governance,\u201d he emphasised.<\/p>\n

The president of the Mozambican Bar Association (OAM), Carlos Martins, also told Lusa that \u201ccourts that are less sensitive to political pressure\u201d are emerging.<\/p>\n

Martins also pointed to the changes to the electoral law in recent years as modifications that have given judges more legal weapons to decide independently.<\/p>\n

He pointed to the removal of the obligation to lodge a prior appeal with the electoral bodies in order to initiate legal action as a major step forward, because it prevents district courts from rejecting electoral appeals outright, as was the case before.<\/p>\n

At least five district courts have already recognised irregularities in the local elections and ordered the repetition of various electoral acts, while demonstrations contesting the announced results are taking place on the streets every day.<\/p>\n

Mozambique\u2019s sixth local elections took place in 65 municipalities on the 11th, including 12 new municipalities, which went to the polls for the first time. The Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the ruling party) was declared the winner in the mid-term count \u2013 strongly contested by civil society, observers and the opposition \u2013 in 64 municipalities.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mozambique<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican analysts believe that the public challenge to the results of the local elections and the emergence of a new wave of young judges has created an environment of independence in the courts, but warn that justice remains controlled. \u201cWhat may be happening is some encouragement for greater independence in the courts,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":49013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,281,283],"class_list":["post-49014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mozambique","tag-mozambique"],"yoast_head":"\nLocal election disputes, new judges lead courts to historic rulings - Mozambique<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mozambican analysts believe that the public challenge to the results of the local elections and the emergence of a new w ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Local election disputes, new judges lead courts to historic rulings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mozambican analysts believe that the public challenge to the results of the local elections and the emergence of a new w ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-23T20:37:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-23T21:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2023\/10\/sm_1698082122.007762.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1114\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Local election disputes, new judges lead courts to historic rulings\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-23T20:37:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-23T21:00:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings\"},\"wordCount\":567,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2023\/10\/sm_1698082122.007762.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mozambique\",\"Mozambique\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/local-election-disputes-new-judges-lead-courts-to-historic-rulings\",\"name\":\"Local election disputes, new judges lead courts to historic rulings - 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