Mozambique’s highest constitutional body this week rejected on technical grounds an opposition request to reconsider the results of the December general election, which the ruling Frelimo party won by a large majority. The decision follows mounting evidence of electoral malpractice, though not on a scale that could sway the overall result.
The Constitutional Council ruled that Renamo, Mozambique’s largest opposition party, had submitted its application “manifestly beyond the deadline”, and noted that Renamo’s submission was substantially different from an earlier protest lodged with the National Electoral Commission (CNE).
“Since it is a new request, the Constitutional Council, as an appeals body, should not recognise it,” the council ruled.
Renamo’s appeal to the CNE sought the annulment of the entire election result announced by the CNE on December 21. However, when Renamo approached the Constitutional Council it moderated its demand, calling only for “the correction of all irregularities”: namely the alleged instances of ballot-stuffing and CNE’s arbitrary exclusion of certain polling stations from the final count.
The council has to certify the election results before the new parliament and president-elect Armando Guebuza can be sworn in.
According to the state-owned Mozambique Information Agency, “It remains to be seen whether the council will, on its own initiative, deal with some of the substantive issues raised by Renamo — such as the CNE’s failure to process about five per cent of the polling station results sheets and the serious incidents of fraud that took place, notably in the western province of Tete, and which probably cost Renamo two parliamentary seats.”
Renamo press spokesperson Fernando Mazango said the decision was “not fair” and insisted that Renamo had submitted its application within the legally stipulated deadline. The party’s next move is uncertain.
The protracted row over the election results has intensified calls from civil society and the opposition to replace the CNE with a politically neutral body. The CNE comprises a Frelimo-appointed majority and a Renamo-appointed minority, with only the chairperson being a non-partisan appointee.
“The solution must lie in making the CNE and STAE [the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration, which organises the election] independent technical bodies,” political analyst Fernando Lima said this week.
Frelimo gathered about twice as many votes as Renamo, a lead far greater than the number of votes disputed by the opposition.