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Courts validate Mozambique
election results
by Hugh McCullum
MAPUTO, 4 January 2000
Supreme Court, sitting as the
Constitutional Council, has validated the presidential and parliamentary
elections held 3-5 December, dashing the hopes of the opposition coalition
who had petitioned the country’s highest court to nullify the results.
Announcing
the results Tuesday, the full bench of seven judges upheld the official
results announced by the National Electoral Commission (CNE) 22 December. The court said that
although there had been some irregularities in the electoral process these
did not significantly influence the final results.
The
validation means that incumbent President Joaquim Chissano will serve a
second five-year term while his Frelimo Party has increased the number of
seats it holds in the Assembly of the Nation. Chissano won 52.29 percent of
the votes, while his opponent, Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the Renamo
Electoral Union received 47.71 percent of the 4.4 million votes cast in the presidential
election.
Frelimo,
the country’s ruling party since independence in 1975 garnered took 48.54
percent of the 3.6 million parliamentary votes, enabling it to increase its
overall majority under Mozambique’s proportional representation system,
from 129 to 133 seats. The
opposition led by Renamo and its coalition of 11 parties won 117 seats in
the 250-member Assembly.
In the 1994-1999 legislature, Renamo
Party had 112 seats and the small Democratic Union held nine, bringing the
total number of opposition seats
to 121. This time only Renamo will form the opposition, all small
parties were wiped out.
After
sharing the seats with its allies in the coalition, the number of seats
held by Renamo alone has dropped to 103, although the coalition will sit
for now as one party.
Renamo
lodged a 23-point appeal with the Constitutional Council seeking the
nullification of the results, citing irregularities and “fraudulent
activities” attributed to Frelimo during the protracted vote-counting
process.
Delivering
the judgement on the appeal in a solemn judgement witnessed by representatives of the diplomatic
corps and political parties in Maputo, Judge Luís Mondlane, read out the
arguments which dismissed the opposition’s allegations one-by-one, either
for lacking the necessary legal grounds, or the necessary evidence to
support the allegations.
Members
of the opposition coalition immediately walked out of the Clube Militar
conference room as soon as Mondlane finished reading the court’s judgement
on Renamo’s appeal. By then it had become obvious that the Constitutional
Court would validate the elections results.
At
a brief press conference held at Frelimo headquarters, Chissano, announced
that he had already started forming the new government, but refused to be
drawn into details. “That is a secret between me and God”, he said
jokingly.
Chissano
also said that his party would take seats in parliament, even if the
opposition decides to boycott parliament, as it has threatened.
The
leadership of the opposition coalition refused to comment on the result.
Francisco Xavier Marcelino, a Renamo appointee to the CNE told
reporters he had no comment.
Manuel Frank, Renamo’s chief lawyer also refused to comment arguing that he
has not yet been officially notified by the Constitutional Council.
Maximo
Dias, a member of the coalition and leader of the small Monamo Party, praised the legal
component of the judgement but criticised the Constitutional Council for
failing to take political considerations into account. The only opposition
member to comment, he said that the process could have benefited if the
judges had ordered a recount of the votes.
Chief
Justice Mario Mangaze, reading the judgement on the electoral process, said
that, although a recount had always been an option during the deliberations
of the Constitutional Council, after a thorough review of the vote-counting
and inspection of thousands of documents, the judges decided a recount
would have been “a futile exercise” which would not influence the final
results.
The
leadership of the opposition coalition went into closed meetings
immediately after the Constitutional Council dismissed their appeal. It is
expected that Dhlakama will make a statement later, clarifying the position
of the Renamo-Electoral Union coalition. (SARDC)
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