The National Elections Commission (CNE), without explanation, changed the
Marromeu results to give Frelimo a narrow 46 vote victory. This means a Frelimo
mayor but an assembly in which the opposition has a majority.
Without comment, this morning the CNE presented its official results for Marromeu following the rerun of voting in 8 polling stations on 22 November.
The CNE first threw out the notorious polling station 07127-03 which had 800 registered voters of whom 811 voted. And it made other changes to the Marromeu District Elections Commission (CDE) results, but did not explain them. The CNE reduced the number of voters reported by the CDE by only 649 and reduced the Frelimo vote by 748, leaving Frelimo with victory by just 0.25% of the valid vote. (The full table is in the attached pdf). The results mean 8 municipal assembly seats each for Frelimo and Renamo and 1 for MDM,
The CNE meeting in Maputo took two days on Monday and Tuesday and in the end the results were only approved and then presented by CNE members named by Frelimo or Frelimo-linked civil society groups. Renamo in its objection said that CNE President Abdul Carimo proposed a recount of the votes at the 8 polling station, but the Frelimo-aligned majority refused the recount. Renamo and MDM nominated and aligned members then walked out of the meeting.
Observers present in the 8 polling stations said the turnout was 47% and gave Renamo 75% of the vote. The CDE said the turnout was an incredible 87% and that Frelimo had 75% of the vote. Observers and Renamo say they CDE results were clearly false. Although it did not release details, it appears that for the 8 polling stations the CNE result cut the turnout to 76% and the Frelimo share of the valid vote to 68% (both still much higher than the observer count).
The CNE said the election was "free, fair and transparent" even though its understanding of transparency included its refusal to explain how it changed the CDE results and its refusal to do a recount. "The CNE welcomes the positive form of the voting process", it said.
Fernando Mazanga, a Renamo member of the CNE, this morning presented the opposition position rejecting the CNE decision. The three CNE documents and the Renamo objection (all in Portuguese) are posted on http://bit.ly/Marr-CNE-R
Full tables showing observer, STAE and CDE results, with huge differences, are in our previous bulletin on [bit.ly/LocEl80]bit.ly/LocEl80
Mensagens
