The spokesperson for Mozambique's National Elections Commission (CNE), Filipe Mandlate, said on Thursday that political party monitoring cannot be made a condition for registering Mozambicans living abroad as voters.
Interviewed on an early morning Radio Mozambique show, Mandlate stressed that registering the emigrants will be undertaken in accordance with the law. The law makes it possible, but not obligatory, for political parties to appoint monitors to observe the registration - whether inside or outside the country.
Mandlate said that, just as with the updating of the electoral registers inside the country, that took place between 28 June and 15 July, the CNE's executive body, the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat, will ensure the technical conditions for the registration, and it is up to each political party to decide whether to appoint monitors.
Mandlate stressed that, if Mozambicans living abroad are to enjoy their constitutionally-enshrined right to participate in national political life through voting, they must first be registered.
As for the monitors, he pointed out that many parties did not appoint monitors for all the voter registration posts inside the country. Indeed, AIM's experience, even in registration posts near Maputo, was that occasionally one could come across monitors appointed by the ruling Frelimo Party, or by the opposition Renamo-Electoral Union coalition. Hardly any monitors from the multitude of minor parties were visible.
Renamo has changed its position slightly on registration outside the country. Previously it had opposed such registration, and seven CNE members appointed by Renamo voted against when the matter was put to a vote on Wednesday.
But a senior Renamo parliamentary deputy, Francisco Machambisse, also speaking on the Radio Mozambique programme, said that Renamo now accepts registering the emigrants, but still has concerns about how this registration will be controlled and monitored.
Mandlate argued that registration should be undertaken under the present conditions, rather than waiting for optimum conditions. He thought it legitimate to provide an opportunity to emigrants to vote, given their contribution to the country's developments. He mentioned in particular the remittances from the tens of thousands of Mozambicans who work on the South African gold mines.
The current law allocates two parliamentary seats to the emigrant communities - one for those in Africa, and the second for those in the rest of the world. Should it be decided that, despite registration, the conditions do not exist for the emigrants to vote, then these two seats will be given to constituencies within Mozambique.
Fonte: AIM
