Mozambique Political Process

The campaign has opened with more intimidation and violence than in past elections, at
least in some places. Our correspondents report incidents from four provinces:

Zambézia

A 30-year-old history teacher named Aristides Assuba Domingo da Conceição was beaten by strangers Thursday evening (5 September) for attending a reception for the Renamo candidate for governor, Manuel de Araújo. The attack happened in Gueriça, Derre district, Zambézia, after Araújo vistied as part of the Renamo campaign. The victim's wife said that around 11 pm the attackers broke down the door of their house and entered the house and struck the teacher with machetes on the head and limbs. He was injured seriously enough to be taken to Quelimane Central Hospital. One of the alleged involved in the act has already been detained by the police, and moved to a jail the district town. He is reported to say he was directed by the district secretary, who is a member of Frelimo.

Tete

Two Frelimo officials were seriously beaten by Renamo supporters for allegedly tearing down Renamo posters. In Benga district a Renamo supporter named Zinho Manuel beat the Frelimo cell secretary in the Katsanha area, Agostinho Saindane, for removing Renamo posters that had been affixed to his residence. The victim sustained serious injuries. In the Zumbo district a Frelimo supporter was beaten by two Renamo supporters for allegedly tearing down Renamo publicity. The victim was seriously injured and is in hospital. The attackers were arrested.

On Saturday 31 August in Kambulatsisi, Madamba, Moatize district, Frelimo supporters led by party secretary Domingos Torre attacked a Renamo member named Celestina Bande at her house. She was seriously injured and taken to the Moatize District Hospital where she was hospitalized. In retaliation, Renamo supporters vandalised the house of Frelimo secretary Domingos Torre, assaulting his wife. The attackers then went to the Frelimo committee and beat the party secretary, Frelimo spokesman Domingos Macajo told a news conference. According to Macajo, in the Chingodze area Renamo men threw stones at his party's parade, injuring a sympathizer who lost his teeth.

Nampula

In Mecuburi district, Nampula, Renamo delegate Joaquim Rafael attacked Frelimo supporter Manuel Alves. The incident occurred on the morning of Wednesday 4 September, when the parades of both parties met along the main road, and supporters exchanged insults and punches. The Renamo delegate was detained for 24 hours.

Niassa

MDM's district campaign director in Muembe, Andson da Silva José, said that a member of his party had received threatening telephone calls on 5 September because José had defected from Frelimo to MDM. He also accused Frelimo of sending someone to an internal campaign meeting to disrupt the meeting. And he claimed that in July a Frelimo official met with a person in Lutueze village who had defected from Frelimo to MDM and offered 20,000 meticais ($320) if the person returned to Frelimo. José claimed that the matter had been taken up by the police, but the police commander in Muembe denied this.

Where are the small parties?

One week into the official campaign, most parties still have not been seen. The three parties with seats in parliament, Frelimo, MDM e Renamo, are visible with parades, posters and rallies, our correspondents report. But of the small parties, only Nova Democracia (New Democracy, ND) is visible outside Maputo. ND is new, standing for the first time; it was set up by Salomão Muchanga, formerly the head of the Youth Parliament, one of the most active bodies in Mozambican civil society. ND has not yet received state money, but is financing the campaign through donations, said Quitéria Guirengane, a Maputo ND organizer. It is active so far in Maputo, Gaza, Inhambane and Tete.

Collecting card numbers

There are reports from various parts of the country of Frelimo campaigners collecting voting card numbers and telephone numbers of voters, sometimes in exchange for a Frelimo t-shirt. The data collection is organised and there is a special form for the information. But it is not clear what Frelimo will do with the information. The Nampula on-line newspaper Ikweli reported yesterday (7 September) the arrest of a Frelimo campaigner in Belenenses, Nampula city, collecting names and phone numbers, after a complaint from Renamo. Ikweli says that two explanations were given for the list, one that it wasa list of teachers at 12 de Outubro secondary school who attended the 7 September Victory Daycelebrations, and the other that is was a list of OJM (Frelimo youth group) members at the school.

Lists of the polling stations for the 15 October election show that the number of polling stations in Gaza has increased by 81% since 2014, vastly more than the increase in population in the past five years. Six provinces increased by 15-20% in line with the increase in population noted in the 2017 census. Maputo province shows a rise of 34%, in line with the census and reflecting the large migration to Matola. Maputo city shows a fall of 1%, again in line with the census.

Only Gaza shows a huge and impossible increase in the number of polling stations, not in line with the population census. The analysis was done by statistician Wim Neeleman. He also notes that more than 10,000 voters have been removed from the register in Zambezia and a further 2,000 added to the already inflated Gaza voters roll. The full table is on the attached pdf version of this bulletin.

Percentage increase in number of polling stations for all provinces: