JACQUES HASDAY, Maputo | Sunday 3.30pm
MOZAMBIQUE’S “democracy party” turned sour on Sunday with the holding of an extra day of polling that the opposition charges is designed to allow further vote-rigging by the ruling Frelimo party.
The third and final day of voting began quietly, however, with some polling sites reporting no voters some three hours after opening. Mozambique’s National Elections Commission announced on Saturday an extension of the polls through Sunday to allow voting in areas where bad weather prevented delivery of voting materials. Poor road conditions and rain have impeded access to many remote rural areas.
The decision to extend the voting followed reports from around the country, particularly the northern stronghold of the main opposition Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo), that at least 70 stations failed to open on time. The polls are now set to close Sunday at 6.00pm. Renamo spokesman Gulamo Jafar told a news conference Saturday that “the extension will give time for Frelimo to prepare fraud.”
He also alleged that ballot boxes stuffed with votes for Frelimo had been sent to provinces that are crucial for Renamo — Zambezia, Manica and Nampula in the north and center of the country — where the party won the most votes in 1994 elections.
International observers deemed that the 1994 elections had been fair. Renamo spokesman Jafar could not prove the allegations of vote-rigging, despite intense questioning by reporters, saying only that investigations are under way. Results from the current exercise are expected by December 19. — AFP