by Bayano Valy – SANF 04 no 95
A European Union Election Observer Mission has tried to force Mozambique to grant it full access into the electoral computer centre where vote counts will be tabulated for the presidential and parliamentary elections in December.
This move has led Mozambique’s electoral body, the National Elections Commission (CNE), some journalists and African diplomats to call it political interference, and violation of the country’s electoral law.
Mozambicans are expected to go to the polls on 1-2 December to choose a successor to President Joaquim Chissano, and a new legislative body.
For weeks the CNE spokesperson, Filipe Mandlate, argued vehemently against EU demands for its observers to have full access to all stages of the count, and not merely the primary count at polling stations.
Mandlate said that EU demands are contrary to the country’s electoral law – hitherto observers were accredited to a particular constituency, and not allowed to enter rooms were information was computerised and tabulated at provincial and national levels.
He argued that, if it is not specifically written in the law, it cannot be allowed. The law does not say that observers can attend the provincial and national levels of the count, and therefore it is prohibited.
The law specifically prohibits any parallel count of the votes and this was also of concern, in the event that observers make their own count and announce the results prematurely, as occurred in the 1999 elections.
The EU Election Observer Mission, through its head, Jose Javier Pomes Ruiz, said that when the team agreed to come to Mozambique, “we were convinced that the Mozambican authorities would facilitate free access to all stages of the process.”
In fact, the CNE invited the mission but it had not promised any preferential treatment. It was understood that the procedure would be the same as in the past.
Matters came to a head when the EU Mission pushed for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the CNE, in which it sought free access to the provincial and national stages of the count.
Mandlate found this as meddling and he was categorical in saying that it would not be possible. But analysts say Mandlate’s argument lost strength when President Chissano intervened to declare that the EU’s demands should be taken into consideration and be accommodated.
This, although sensible to avert a looming impasse, had its problems: the CNE is not a legislative body and it cannot change the law. That is a task for the national assembly, the parliament.
But no arguing could dissuade the Europeans who, analysts hinted, were behind closed doors reminding the CNE that they are the major contributors to the cost of the forthcoming elections and therefore deserving of different treatment. The EU contribution to the total election budget is $15 million, about 70 per cent of the budget.
The prospect of negotiating a memorandum is a different treatment than previously. No other interested party – observer missions, political parties and presidential candidates – is expected to sign a memorandum with the CNE.
Chissano’s request for accommodation meant that within the CNE, members broke ranks. While Mandlate rejected the demands, others started to soften their stance, namely the chairperson, Rev Arão Litsuri, and his deputy chairs, Angelica Salomão appointed by the ruling Frelimo party, and Raimundo Samuge appointed by the main opposition party, Renamo.
Pomes Ruiz said that all three were “in favour of complete transparency in the count.”
He added that he had impressed upon the three that the mission wanted to “verify that the computerisation of results is in accordance with international standards.”
He said he was requesting Mozambique to follow standard international practice for electoral observation. He noted that it seemed Mozambique was already committed to such standard practice, through the Southern African Development Community (SADC) election guidelines, that President Chissano signed at the recent SADC summit in Mauritius.
Furthermore, the head of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, sent a letter to Chissano requesting a “total guarantee of transparency” in managing the 2004 general elections. Prodi wrote that the presence of European election observers would increase the transparency of the process.
But an African diplomat who had read the full letter, said that Prodi had just fallen short of blackmailing President Chissano to agree to EU demands. It was thus no surprise that on first analysis the CNE finally seemed to relent.
On 22 October, the CNE issued a press release promising that it would establish “technical conditions” during the count of votes cast that would enable observers and journalists to follow the computerisation of the data.
These technical conditions mean that observers and journalists will observe the processing of the data at a distance, through a window. This is to avoid observers being able “to contact or speak to operators during their work, in line with the rules in force in the CNE.”
On the face of it, this is hardly backing down on its refusal to allow access to observers at the tabulation stage. Furthermore, the CNE is unlikely to agree to observers being present at meetings of electoral bodies because this is not an activity which is public in nature. (SARDC)
