Mozambique limits election observers' access

Mozambique’s National Elections Commission has announced it will not give observers access to all stages of the vote counting in December’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

Commission spokesperson Filipe Mandlate said on Monday that observers will not be allowed into the rooms where the vote tabulation is carried out.

He said observers and journalists will be able watch the first stage of the count at the polling stations, but not at provincial election commission centres where the results will be tabulated.

Mandlate said the decision has prompted an angry objection from the European Union, which plans to send one of the largest observer missions to the election and which gives the country about half the money needed to hold the election.

He said the decision, opposed by opposition politicians on the commission, follows national law that prohibits observers in the final stages of the count.

The EU delegation, he said, has said sent a protest note containing “indelicate language” and suggesting if observers cannot see the entire process, then the EU may decide not to monitor the elections. He refused to release the message or be more specific about the wording.

The EU delegation in Maputo declined to comment on the report.

“The last position that the commission took was to suggest that the EU accept our proposal and leave for another occasion negotiations with the Mozambique Parliament to change the law,” said Mandlate.—Sapa-AP