Head of the African Union (AU) observer missions in the Mozambique elections, Goodluck Jonathan says the voting stations that were not opened in Cabo Delgado, province north of Mozambique, will not affect the results of Tuesday’s presidential elections.
Jonathan says the Mozambique National Electoral Commission knew ahead of the elections that voting won’t take place in those areas. He spoke to the SABC News team in Maputo on Wednesday.
“The chairman or the president of the Electoral Commission of Mozambique told us that because of the challenges those centres will not open. So, they’re within the law. It will affect lower elections. But as far as the presidential election is concerned, those will not affect (election outcomes) because they made it public that the elections are not going to be conducted in those units, according to them. There are no people living there. Because of the killings, people are moved from that place. So, even if you go to vote you will not see anybody because the people have relocated.”
‘Electoral processes need improvement’
Some of the observer missions deployed in the Sofala province in Beira, northeast of Mozambique, say the country’s National Elections Commission still need to improve on a few in its electoral process. This after the observers visited some of the 425 polling stations in the province’s 13 districts.
An observer from the Association for Free Research and International Cooperation (AFRIC), Taurai Pambweyi, says voting in many of the stations they visited continued without glitches.
“We were impressed by the calmness and peace that prevailed when people were casting their votes here in Beira. We visited six outlets here in Beira. I would say the queues were properly managed and of concern could be where the elderly and pregnant and nursing mothers were not given the preference which was due to them. You would see some standing in queues.”
Cyclones Idai and Kenneth
The Mayor of Beira and leader of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique, Daviz Simango, says they are in need of international intervention to rebuild the city of Beira.
Earlier in 2019, Beira and other neighbouring provinces, in the northern part of Mozambique, were hard hit by cyclones Idai and Kenneth which left a trail of destruction on infrastructure, living millions destitute and hundreds dead.
Simango says there’s a lot of work that needs to be done but funding is a challenge.
“It’s massive damage. We applied for the national call for donation for support. It’s still slow, but I think because of the elections, everybody was quiet. Maybe after these elections, they will start coming in and doing something for the city. But definitely, we need more resources. The budget of the city is not enough, even the budget for the national level is not enough. So, we want to call the international. Yes, you know that climate change doesn’t start from us. The problem starts from the rich countries. So, the rich countries must play the role to support poor countries like Mozambique.”
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