POLITICS-MOZAMBIQUE:
Another Term for Incumbent President?
Zenaida Machado
MAPUTO, Oct. 29 (IPS) - Mozambique’s incumbent president looks set to serve a second term of office as partial results of the country’s presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections are announced.
Early results of the Oct. 28 elections indicate that President Armando Guebuza and his ruling party, Frelimo, will hold onto power for another five years.
The results, announced by the state-owned broadcaster Radio Mozambique, shows Guebuza ahead in the voting having won more than 70 percent of the votes counted thus far.
The two opposition candidates: Daviz Simango, from the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM); and Renamo head Afonso Dhlakama, are in a tight race for second place.
Mozambique's National Elections Commission (CNE) said the election went well. "Except (for) some small incidents, everything has been moving normally and well. The turnout looks good all over the country," said CNE chairperson, Leopoldo da Costa.
This year turnout is expected to be below 45 percent. In the 2004 elections less than 35 of voters cast their vote.
A massive youth turnout has also been reported in the elections.
The polls opened at 7 am on Oct. 28 with some people lining up in long queues even hours before the voting process started.
In the capital city of Maputo lines at the voting stations, mostly located in primary schools, reached up to 150 metres. Some voters queued for up to five hours before they got to the front of the line and were let into the polling station to make their mark. There were 12,600 polling stations in the country.
"Some people came as early as 5 am to mark their place in the queues with stones and leaf bunches," said a staffer of a polling station in Maputo who preferred anonymity because he said he did not have permission to talk to the press. Those who marked their places sat around waiting for the polling stations to open, instead of standing in the queue. It is common in Mozambique for people to mark their places in this way in queues.
To ensure all registered voters had the chance to vote, STAE (Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat) increased the number of election staff per station from five to seven. These staffers also had the task of organising the queues and directing people to the voting room.
The excitement to vote was clear to see, especially amongst youth, a contrast to the 2004 elections. There were just over 9,8 million voters registered and eligible to vote for the election on Oct. 28. Voter turnout may have been helped by the fact that the Labour Ministry declared the day a public holiday, to give all workers the chance to vote.
"I went around to the bars and clubs in Maputo and surrounding, and amazingly most of the young people I found had already voted," said Noa Inacio, a journalist who is observing the event.
"The ones who had not yet being in the polling station promised to do so before the closing." he added.
A young couple on their 20s in one of the polling stations said they could not miss the opportunity to vote for the first time in a presidential election.
"I am very excited. This is my first time to vote for a president," explained Tatiana Batista as she held her boyfriend's hand. "I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to choose the person who is going to lead our future," she added.
"I had to come to vote and choose our leader for the next five years," Batista’s boyfriend explained. "I don’t want anyone to choose my fish and vegetables."
He was referring to an advertising campaign run by STAE. In order to a have a massive participation of voters, STAE broadcast a radio and TV advertisement spot which shows a couple in a restaurant choosing their meal. The wife forces her husband to eat fish and vegetables, something he dislikes, because he had not decided on his order by the time the waiter came to take it.
During the 45-day election campaign, which ended Oct. 25, the STAE advert became very popular among young Mozambicans who had been consistently asked by all candidates to participate in the electoral process.
International observers were also astonished by the number of people who turned out to cast their votes in the fourth democratic elections to be held in Mozambique.
"I am surprised by the number of people who came early in the morning vote. It shows how Mozambicans are so much involved in process," said the head of the European Union Observers Team, Fiona Hall.
Hall also said that she was pleased by the civic responsibility and discipline Mozambicans showed during the voting process. "I was amazed to see that senior people and pregnant woman are given priority when standing in the lines."
Nearly 30 parties registered for the parliamentary poll, but the CNE allowed candidates from only 19 to run. The other parties were excluded because they did not have their electoral papers in order. Only the ruling Frelimo and the main opposition party Renamo are contesting the 250 parliamentary seats in every constituency.
The exclusion of the other political parties brought a serial of controversial debates. Most of these were around the new political party, MDM led by the mayor of the second-largest Mozambican city of Beira and a former member of Renamo.
MDM, which was formed at the beginning of this year after most of his members split from the former rebel group Renamo, has been excluded from fielding candidates in nine of the 13 parliamentary regions. They were excluded for not having their electoral papers in order but have laid a complaint with the office of the Attorney-General.
In the interest of "transparency and justice" the CNE allowed party delegates and national and international observers to watch the counting of votes.
The elections were monitored by more than 1,000 national and international observers including those from the: Africa Union; European Union; Southern African Development Community and the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries.
The official results will be announced in two weeks.
*Updates with preliminary results of the elections and adds comment from the National Elections Commission.
(END/2009)
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