MOZAMBIQUE: Opposition demand election re-run

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 10 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - RENAMO, Mozambique's main opposition party, has alleged widespread fraud in the recent presidential and parliamentary elections and is demanding a re-run.

Election manager Eduardo Namburete told IRIN on Friday that RENAMO believed both the voting and the subsequent counting process, which has now been delayed, were substantially flawed.

He alleged that 40,000 voters in parts of the country traditionally sympathetic to RENAMO were denied the opportunity to cast their ballots, "because the CNE [the Portuguese acronym for the National Electoral Commission] did not provide voting material on time".

Based on this and other allegations of fraud, RENAMO has decided to "reject the poll, and whatever the outcome will be. For us it's not a matter of hoping to win or not; it's a matter of wanting fairness and transparency in the processes," Namburete said.

"This is the third elections we are holding here [since the end of civil war], and it gives a very bad image for the country if, every five years, we have to go through the same situation of complaints and allegations of fraud and so on. We hope all people interested in democracy will ... intervene in this process, so the government can start dealing with this issue in a more responsible way," he added.

The opposition party called for a re-run of the elections and the reconstitution of the National Electoral Commission. "We want new elections under an independent CNE," Namburete said.

Filipe Mandlate, spokesman for the CNE, told IRIN the organisation was aware of RENAMO's allegations, but would neither comment on nor investigate them, as the party had not made a formal complaint.

"Officially, we did not receive any protests. RENAMO has complained in public, but that's not relevant to the National Electoral Commission, as by law all complaints must be made at voting stations. Since there's no complaints at voting stations, there will be no investigations," Mandlate said.

"The law gives three days after the event to make a complaint - it's not fair for someone to come one week later to make a complaint. Therefore, all their declarations in the press are completely irrelevant," he added.

Despite delays in the counting process, due to heavy rains in parts of the country, Mandlate said the electoral commission still hoped to make the 17 December deadline for announcing the election results.

[ENDS]