Maputo, Mozambique — Mozambique’s electoral body extended voting until Saturday in some areas and in one overseas location because material didn’t arrive on time.
Most of the country completed voting Wednesday and now awaits results.
National Electoral Commission spokesperson Paulo Cuinica told reporters on Friday that voting did not take place in some districts of Zambezia province, in central Mozambique, partly due to problems getting voting materials in time.
“As a result of this fact, 23 polling stations did not open in the province of Zambezia, [or in the coastal circle of Zambezia], with 4 in Maganja da Costa and 19 in the district of Gilé,” Cuinica said.
Voting outside the country also had hiccups, he said, noting that 670 Mozambicans living in Germany in were unable to vote.
He said voting materials were shipped to Germany on September 27th, but were held up in Cologne and did not reach Berlin until Thursday, the day after the election.
As a result, Cuinica said voting is being extended in affected areas. He said voters can cast ballots from 7 am to 6 pm Saturday in the districts of Gilé and Maganja, and from 9 am to 9 pm in Germany.
Meanwhile, election monitors in Mozambique gave preliminary assessments of the process. Laura Valerin, a member of parliament from Spain and chief observer of the European Union election mission, told VOA monitors observed about 800 polling stations.
While she praised the peaceful campaign and orderly voting, she said there were issues.
“We saw the counting phase,” she said. “Our observers saw the processes were in many times very long, really slow with some difficulties foreseen by polling staff, with some doubts about how the process had to take place.”
She said that before election day, the EU team’s engagement with political parties, media and civil society indicated that there is widespread mistrust about the independence of the electoral bodies.
Succès Masra, a former prime minister of Chad and head of the observer mission for the U.S.-based International Republican Institute, said his organization had teams from 20 countries, including 12 in sub–Saharan Africa, deployed across Mozambique.
Masra praised the democratic spirit of Mozambicans but said his teams had reservations about the electoral process.
“Citizens were not deterred from exercising their right to determine their future,” he said. “Our observations show delayed accreditation for observers and party agents, late changes to electoral laws and the misuse of state resources during the campaign. These issues raised concerns about public confidence in the process and independence of institutions.”
Masra said he hopes that Mozambicans can address the issues to strengthen their democratic institutions.
Now Mozambique awaits the results from this, the country’s seventh general elections since the advent of multiparty democracy 30 years ago. The first official results from the National Electoral Council could come as early as Saturday.
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