Dhlakama to tour central provinces

via Dhlakama to tour central provinces 24 November 2014

Mozambique’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, announced on Monday that its leader, Afonso Dhlakama, will visit the central provinces of Sofala, Manica and Tete this week to explain to the population why Renamo has rejected the results of the 13 October general elections announced by the National Elections Commission (CNE).

According to those results, the candidate of the ruling Frelimo Party, former defence minister Filipe Nyusi, won with 57 per cent of the vote, while in the parliamentary election Frelimo took 55 per cent, and thus retains its overall majority.

But Frelimo’s victory tastes of defeat – its presidential vote fell from 75 per cent in 2009 to 57 per cent now, and it has lost 44 parliamentary seats. Frelimo no longer enjoys a two thirds majority in the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, and so can no longer change the Constitution on its own.

Renamo recovered strongly after its poor showing in 2009. Dhlakama more than doubled his presidential vote, from 16 per cent to 36.6 per cent, and the number of Renamo parliamentary deputies rises from 51 to 89.

But far from claiming this as a victory, Renamo alleges that it was robbed. It has said that in reality Dhlakama won 80 per cent of the vote, and Renamo has an absolute majority in parliament. These figures contradict, not only the results announced by CNE, but the parallel count undertaken by the Electoral Observatory, the largest and most credible group of Mozambican election observers.

The Observatory’s figures are in line with those from the CNE, indicating that Nyusi won with around 57 per cent.

The CNE’s figures are not definitive. They still have to be validated by the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law. Currently the Council is still ruling on the various appeals submitted by Renamo and by the second opposition force, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).

Speaking at a Maputo press conference on Monday morning, Dhlakama’s spokesperson, Antonio Muchanga, said that Dhlakama intends to discuss the future of the country with the population of the central provinces taking into account what he called “electoral fraud”.

Dhlakama has scheduled three rallies in the provincial capitals – in Beira on Wednesday, in Chimoio on Friday and in Tete city on Sunday.

Muchanga said that Dhlakama would carry with him “his initiative for peace and a political solution” to the supposed fraud. That political solution was necessary, Muchanga said, since Renamo had no hope of a successful way out through the courts.

Muchanga blamed the alleged fraud on “the agents of STAE” (Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat, the executive arm of the CNE).

He said that, since the elections are a political rather than a legal matter, Dhlakama was proposing the formation of a “caretaker government”, which would introduce the reforms necessary for “real transparency” in the electoral bodies. With such reforms, “the electoral bodies will be directed by people who are going to guarantee transparency”.

The last set of reforms to the electoral legislation was approved in February at Renamo’s insistence, and as part of the price for ending Renamo’s mini-insurgency in the centre of the country. At the time, Renamo boasted that these reforms were sufficient to achieve transparency and eliminate fraud.

The changes pushed through by Renamo led to the complete politicisation of STAE, which was stuffed full of political appointees from the three parliamentary parties – Frelimo, Renamo and the MDM.

Renamo is thus deep inside STAE. STAE has a professional national director, and two deputies, one from Frelimo and one from Renamo. There are six assistant national directors, three appointed by Frelimo, two by Renamo and one by the MDM, and eighteen other staff members, nine from Frelimo, eight from Renamo, and one from the MDM.

Likewise in the provincial, district and city branches of STAE – there are two assistant directors (one Frelimo, one Renamo), six assistant heads of department (three from Frelimo, two from Renamo and one from the MDM), and six other staff members (again three Frelimo, two Renamo and one MDM).

This politicisation extends to the polling station – Frelimo, Renamo and the MDM each had the right to appoint a member of staff at each of the 17,010 polling stations.

Renamo has yet to explain how these thousands of people which it appointed were unable to prevent what it now describes as a gigantic fraud.

Muchanga claimed that it would be “normal” for Frelimo to hand over power to Renamo and to Dhlakama, since Dhlakama had “at least 36 per cent” of the vote (the CNE’s figure), while Nyusi’s total was “less than 10 per cent”. Muchanga did not explain how he reached this figure.

He added that Dhlakama “will now speak with the people and the people will say who really won the election”.

Muchanga also called for “political negotiations” on the composition, not only of the future government but of the future parliament, since “the results announced are not the true results of the elections”.