Mozambique: Campaigning intensifies; mostly calm

MOZAMBIQUE
POLITICAL PROCESS
BULLETIN

Election e-mail special issue 5
Sunday 14 November 2004

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IN THIS ISSUE

Campaign opens - mostly calm, but
Frelimo using state vehicles
Violence against Renamo in Gaza, Tete
Violence against Frelimo in Sofala
Bans and arrests
No concessions to observers
Polling stations announced

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Editor: Joseph Hanlon ([email protected])
Deputy editor: Adriano Nuvunga
with reports from 25 correspondents

Material may be freely reprinted.
Please cite the Bulletin.

Published by AWEPA, the
European Parliamentarians for Africa

To subscribe or unsubscribe, see note at end.

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MOSTLY CALM START TO CAMPAIGN,
BUT WITH SOME INCIDENTS

Half way through campaigning for the national election on 1-2 December,
the process has been largely calm. The two main parties, Frelimo and
Renamo, have been present throughout the country. Of the smaller parties,
Raul Domingos and his Party for Peace, Development and Democracy (PDD)
have had an unexpectedly strong presence in the campaign.

Initial reports are that election coverage by Radio Mozambique and TVM has
been impartial, with saturation coverage of the campaign. TVM evening news
is followed by a 45 minute campaign diary, which tries to cover the
campaign in every province and is attempting to give roughly equal time to
Frelimo, Renamo and the PDD.

In a statement on Friday 12 November, the National Elections Commission
(CNE) on Friday said that, in general, the election campaign has been
carried out in "a climate of peace, tranquillity, concord and harmony".
But it condemned what it called "sporadic and isolated" acts of violence
and "people who, acting on their own account, or obeying the instructions
of others, practice inappropriate acts, or demonstrate attitudes which to
some extent violate the law."

Five issues are dealt with in articles below:
+ Despite a change in the electoral law making it illegal, Frelimo
continues to use state vehicles in its campaign.
+ As in past elections, the opposition has come under heavy and probably
unacceptable pressure in Tete.
+ Renamo is making a serious attempt to gain inroads into the solid
Frelimo province of Gaza, and this has provoked violence.
+ There have been a few report of attacks on individuals and houses.
Inevitably there have been punch-ups between young men of the two main
parties in a number of places, but this does not seem to have been serious.
+ A few complaints about improper arrests and campaign bans.

FRELIMO USING
GOVERNMENT CARS

Following complaints in past elections that the ruling party, Frelimo, was
using government cars in the campaign, the electoral law was changed to
make it illegal to use state resources. Nevertheless, Bulletin
correspondents have cited widespread violations, notably in Nampula; in
Quelimane, Nicoadala and Mocuba in Zambezia province; and in Massinga and
Maxixe in Inhambane province.

FRELIMO DEFENDS
ITS GAZA STRONGHOLD

Opposition parties are making an unexpectedly strong push into the Frelimo
stronghold of Gaza, and drawing a violent response.
In Chicualacuala, a sparsely populated area on the border with Zimbabwe,
district election commission members appointed by Renamo were attacked and
their homes burned, and they were forced to flee, according to the
spokesperson for Mozambique's National Elections Commission (CNE), Filipe
Mandlate.

Renamo representatives in Chicualacuala and Massangena dstricts were
beaten severely enough to require hospitalisation, reports Carlos Mhula.
At least three Renamo supporters in the neighbouring district of Mabalane
were severely beaten and forced to flee. The Chibuto representative of PDD
was beaten and hospitalised for two days, reports Samuel Marcos. In
Mabalane, two Renamo officials have been detained, allegedly for beating a
Frelimo supporter.

Renamo president Afonso Dhlakama was unable to campaign in one of the main
markets of Xai-Xai on 10 November because his path was blocked by a large
number of Frelimo supporters. Another Dhlakam rally was blocked in Guija
district. PIMO was prevented from campaigning in Chibuto.

AIM reports that on 24 October, a Frelimo group attacked a PDD rally in
Macanwine, a suburb of Xai-Xai. They threw stones at the PDD supporters
and hit a Radio Mozambique reporter and a European Union observer. (AIM
reports that the EU mission denies a report in "Zambeze" that a Frelimo
group humiliated and expelled two European Union observers from
Koka-Missava, near Xai-Xai.)

HARASSMENT OF OPPOSITION
CONTINUES IN TETE

Tete remains the one province where there is widespread harassment of the
opposition, making it difficult for them to campaign and to monitor the
electoral process, according to our correspondents in Tete.

When Raul Domingos passed through Changara, he handed out t-shirts and
capulanas. But he was followed by a Frelimo gang which beat 20 people for
accepting the material, reports Claudina Lembe. In Moatize, the PDD
headquarrters was broken into during the night and campaign materials
stolen. In Chioco, in Changara district, two houses of alleged Renamo
sympathisers were burned.

Raul Domingos claimed that Frelimo is not allowing the PPD to function in
Changara, Cahora Bassa and Magoe districts, although our correspondent
Pompilio Cardoso reports that PPD and Renamo were campaigning in Cahora
Bassa district.

In Chifunde, our correspondent Estevao Lichowa reports that a meeting
between the Carter Center observers and Renamo members of the district
election commission (CDE) caused problems. The meeting took place in the
commission office because Renamo does not have its own office in Chifunde.
The Carter Center observers are said to have asked Frelimo members to
leave the small office to allow the Renamo members to talk more freely.
Frelimo CDE members said they were evicted from the own offices, and the
the Carter Center should not be having "political meetings" in the CDE
offices.

Tete has consistently been a problem province. In Bulletin 30 we reported
that in July this year Renamo said its party monitors had been expelled
from Changara and Chifunde districts, and that monitors in Magoe, Songo
and Zobue district had been beaten. And Tete was the one place where
Frelimo violence against Renamo was confirmed in the 1999 national
elections. In Bulletin 24 (Jan 2000) we reported that Renamo had been
expelled from Changara district and there were no Renamo monitors in
polling stations in that district. Without opposition monitors present,
there were indications of ballot box stuffing in Changara in 1999. There
were also indications of tampering with results sheets in Chifunde in that
year.

AND IN SOFALA

In Sofala, where Renamo is the dominant party and the PDD and Frelimo are
trying to gain support, there have been a number of report of incidents.
Armed Renamo men caused panic in Maringue on 17 October. Renamo supporters
severely beat the Frelimo representatives in Mpango and Pango in Maringue.
In Nhangau, Renamo supporters beat a PDD member.

PUNCH-UPS AND CONFRONTATIONS

Our correspondents report a number of reports of minor incidents,
typically punch-ups between young men of two parties, or confrontations
between marches or motorcades.

BANS AND ARRESTS

There have been several reports of arrests and improper bans on
campaigning. In Sangage, Parapato, Nampula province, the head of the
dynamising group banned campaigning by PIMO and PDD on the grounds that it
had not been authorised, reports Ageu Waliza. In Repale, Nampula, the
police and a community leader stopped a PDD really, reports Julio Paulino.
In Mecufi in Cabo Delgado the district administrator (who is also head of
the Frelimo election office) ordered the PDD representative to take down a
PDD flag on the grounds that flagpoles require authorisation of the proper
authorities.

In Cabo Delgado at least six Renamo members have been detained for
allegedly destroying Frelimo posters; 15 people were detained in Tete, 4
in Sofala and 9 in Zambezia for similar offenses. The Renamo
representative in Machanga, Sofala has been detained for illegal
possession of a firearm, even though no gun has been found.

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CNE MAKES NO
CONCESSIONS
TO OBSERVERS

Despite pressure from observer groups for more transparency in the final
tabulation process, the CNE has made no concessions. The will be no
observation of the reconsideration of invalid ballot papers and of polling
station results sheets (editais) with errors.

On the computerisation side, Antonio Carrasco, director general of the
Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), said that
observers, journalists and political party monitors will be able to
observe tabulation of votes on six special computer terminals. This
facility was available in the past (on 2 terminals) but the data which
could be accessed was rarely updated. In local elections last year, even
when results were announced by the CNE, it was not possible to see
complete tabulations on the computers, with most cities missing some
polling stations. The display format also makes it very difficult to check
the full tabulation process.

Carrasco also said it would also be possible for observers to go inside
the computer centre, under strict security measures, but they would not be
allowed to talk to computer operators.

MANY MORE POLLING
STATIONS THIS YEAR

There will be 12,804 polling stations this year, compared to 8,334 in
1999, the National Elections Commission (CNE) announced on 4 November. The
division of polling stations within Mozambique, as reported by AIM, is:

Province Voters Polling stations

Niassa 453,461 724
Cabo Delgado 794,270 1,391
Nampula 1,831,897 2,290
Zambezia 1,749,121 2,370
Tete 660,741 916
Manica 531,264 722
Sofala 802,149 1,039
Inhambane 579,356 786
Gaza 609,214 992
Maputo Prov 483,493 752
Maputo City 600,249 762

Total 9,095,185 12,744

As pointed out in previous Bulletins, there are serious problems with the
figures for the electorate, since the latest data from the National
Statistics Institute (INE) put the total voting age population as of
August 2004 at 9.1 million, which suggests an impossible 100%
registration. There is no process for removing people who have died or
registered a second time, which means there is no accurate figure of
people registered, and thus it will be impossible to estimate turnout..

The number of polling stations reflects both the number of voters and
population density. Thus, although the Zambezia electorate is slightly
smaller than that of neighbouring Nampula, it gets
more polling stations because Zambezia's rural population is more spread
out.

Mozambicans living outside the country will be able to vote for the first
time, and there will be 60 polling stations outside the country There will
be 40 in South Africa, including some at workplaces including mines.
There are also five polling stations in Zimbabwe, four in Tanzania, three
in Swaziland, two in Malawi, two in Kenya, and one in Zambia. In Europe
there will be two polling stations in Portugal and one in Germany.

Meanwhile, Antonio Carrasco, director general of the Electoral
Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), said on 4 November said that
all the register books from the 1999, 2003 and 2004 registrations had been
computerised, corrected and consolidated. That means there should be just
one computerised register at each polling station containing the names of
everyone who registered there in 1999, 2003 and 2004. But others close to
the process warn that this task would not be completed for some polling
stations.

UNDP reports that the CNE has made an important changes to the voting
rules which will lead to fewer people being excluded. Anyone with a
voter's card will be allowed to vote. If they are not on the list or if
their number corresponds to someone else, they will still be allowed to
vote, and a note will be recorded in the minutes (actas). In the past,
such people were barred, which caused much anger about problems with the
voters roll.

PARTIES RECEIVE FUNDING

Some parties have already received their third and final tranche of
funding, the spokesperson for the CNE, Filipe Mandlate, said on Friday.
The government has granted 45 billion meticais ($1.8 million) for the
election campaign. Half was given to the candidates on 16 October, with
the rest to be delivered in two installments each of 25%. But no party
will be given the second or third instalment without accounting for use of
the earlier ones. Mandlate said some parties has already accounted for the
first and even the second tranche and have been given their final 25%.

SMALL PARTIES PROTEST

Several small parties in the Renamo Electoral Union coalition have made a
formal protest to the Minister of Justice complaining that they have not
been put on candidates lists in an electable position, and that Renamo did
not show them the list before it is was submitted to the CNE and
published. They say the accord setting up the coalition promised them
electable positions.

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