Mozambique: election commissioners will be proposed by civil society

MOZAMBIQUE POLITICAL PROCESS BULLETIN

Issue 28

Formerly Mozambique Peace Process Bulletin

Editor: Joseph Hanlon, [email protected]

Published by AWEPA, the
European Parliamentarians for Southern Africa

Material may be freely reprinted. Please cite the Bulletin.

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The presidents of the national and lower level election commissions are to
be "proposed by civil society" and the other members of the election
commission are to choose their president from those proposals by secret
ballot. It is remarkable and, for Mozambique, unprecedented to give such a
role to civil society. The idea comes from civil society and was taken up
last year by Renamo as a way of making the CNE more independent.

But the law gives few guidelines on procedure. The election commission is
to advertise for proposals, which must be submitted "by legally
constituted civil society organisations" within 10 days for the CNE and 7
days for other election commissions.

There is no umbrella organisation for civil society, and no system exists
yet to do this an organised way.

The Movement for Peace and Citizenship (MPC, Movimento pela Paz e
Cidadania) is one of the more broadly based civil society bodies, and it
is moving to collect nominations. Although, like most national
organisations, it is Maputo-based, MPC has begun a broad search for
someone who reflects civil society outside Maputo. Meetings are being held
in each provincial capital with representatives of six sectors of local
civil society: religious, labour, mass organisations such as women and
youth, advocacy, information, and professional. Each province will try to
choose a single candidate for CNE president, and a national meeting will
try to whittle down this list to three people, who will be submitted to
the CNE. MPC hopes to be able to do this by the end of November.

In mid-2002 MPC ran four regional seminars on the election law and
produced several suggestions for revisions in the law, which were
presented to the ad hoc commission during the special session of
parliament. Suggestions include:
+ Lowering the barrier in national elections from 5% to 2% or 3%. (In
national, but not local, elections, a party must gain at least 5% of the
national vote to become eligible for parliamentary seats.)
+ Election dates should be fixed by law.
+ Voting should take place on only 1 day.

In addition, the conferences proposed that there should be established a
National Council of Civil Society, as exists in South Africa and
elsewhere, to allow civil society to take more coordinated actions.

CNE NOMINEES

The new National Election Commission (CNE) will be quite experienced;
eight of the 18 members have been on CNEs for previous elections.

The 10 Frelimo nominess to the CNE are: Antonio Muacorica (CNE member in
1999), Antonio Chipanga, Filipe Mandlate, Jose Grachane, Maria Angelica
Salomao (member of all previous CNEs: 94,98,99), Paulus Gerdes, Percina
Sitoe (CNE 99), Rogerio Utui, Rufino Nombora (CNE 94,98,99) and Isador
Faztudo.

The eight Renamo nominees are: Francisco Marcelino (formerly Jose de
Castro, and the only Renamo nominee to have been on all three previous
CNEs), Tome Fernando (CNE 99), Maria Joaquina Julio Inacio (CNE 99),
Antonio Timoteo Mthini (CNE 99), Maria Joaquina Macuacua (CNE 99),
Isequiel Molde Gusse, Guimaraes Mendes Lucas Junior, and Joao Jose Cazonda.

CHANGES TO THE LOCAL ELECTION LAW

The 2003 local election procedure will be almost identical to that of
1994, 1998 and 1999, but with these changes:
+ As well as being posted on the door of the polling station, copies of
results at each polling station are to be given to party delegates
(previously delegates had to make their own copies, which caused problems
for illiterate party monitors).
+ At city, district and provincial level, copies of the results are to be
given to parties, observers and press. During the adding up the results
from individual polling stations, partial results should be posted at
city, district and provincial levels.
+ Partial results of municipal elections will be announced at municipal
level within 72 hours of the polls closing. (Final results and assignment
of assembly seats is done by the CNE.)
+ Polling station staff as well as all of those involved in civic
education and registration must be chosen via an open, public competition.
+ Every polling station is to be supplied with a calculator, in an attempt
to reduce the large number of errors in reports of the results.
+ No electoral document can contain an alteration or correction (rasura).
+ International as well as national non-party observation will be
permitted. (In the past, national elections allowed both national and
international independent observers, but local elections allowed only
national observers.)

But two things which caused trouble in 1998 and 1999 are again not changed:
+ All spoiled ballot papers (votos nulos) are reconsidered by the CNE.
(More than 500,000 ballot papers were sent to Maputo in 1999, and it was
suggested this rechecking could be done a provincial level.)
+ Many polling station staff and other election workers, journalists,
police, observers and even party agents will again be unable to vote,
because people can only vote at the polling station where they are
registered, even if they are assigned to work at a different polling
station.

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BACKGROUND ON MOZAMBICAN
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND ELECTION PROCEDURES
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN MOZAMBIQUE

The 33 largest cities and towns, with one quarter of Mozambique's
population, have elected local governments. These municipalities have
substantial devolved powers and their elected governments should play a
major role in local development. The remaining population is rural and
lives in districts with appointed administrators.

The mayor (presidente) is directly elected. Parties propose candidates and
independents can stand. The local assembly is elected by proportional
representation on a party list basis. In local elections (but not in
national elections), local non-party citizens' groups can also put forward
lists.

In most respects, municipal government reflects the structure and
procedures of national government. The mayor picks a cabinet, whose
members are known as vereadores and are responsible for sectors such as
youth or street cleaning. As at national level, the President and cabinet
hold the most power. Like the national parliament, local assemblies pass
laws, approve the plan and budget, and monitor the work of the president
and cabinet.

The municipal assembly elects is own president (speaker), and in several
municipalities there have been conflicts between the president of the
municipality (the mayor) and the president of the assembly (the speaker),
even though both have been Frelimo.

The first municipal elections were held in 1998. Renamo and most small
parties boycotted the elections, but citizens' lists and two small parties
stood and won assembly seats in six municipalities: Maputo, Matola, Beira,
Manhica, Xai-Xai and Nacala.

ELECTION PROCEDURES IN MOZAMBIQUE

+ Voting in local elections takes place on one day.
+ Each polling station (assembleia de voto) serves up to 1000 voters who
are in one or two registration books. Where possible, a polling station is
in a school classroom, and one school normally has several polling
stations.
+ Each polling station functions independently, with its own staff of five
(known as the "mesa", meaning "table").
+ Only those who are already registered and are over 18 can vote. Each
voter must show their voter's card or another identity document, and must
be on the voters' roll.
+ There are two ballot papers, one for municipal president (mayor) and one
with a list of parties standing for the local assembly. In a voting booth,
the voter puts a cross or fingerprint in one box on each ballot paper,
folds the papers, and deposits them in ballot boxs.
+ After voting, each voter dips their right index finger in indelible ink.
Before voting, each voter shows their index finger to prove they have not
already voted.
+ Party monitors (delegados de candidatura), independent observers and
press are permitted to be in polling stations, but must be registered in
advance by the CNE.
+ At the close of voting, each polling station immediately does its own
count. Copies of the results are posted on the door of the polling station
and given to each party monitor, which allows press and parties to do an
independent count. (In many countries, ballot boxes are transported to
central counting stations, which sometimes creates an opportunity for
tampering with the ballot boxes. An immediate count in the polling station
in the presence of party monitors and press sharply reduces the
possibilities of fraud.)
+ Preliminary results are announced in each individual municipality.
+ Spoiled ballot papers (votos nulos) account for 5% to 10% of all votes.
Every one of the tens of thousands of spoiled ballot paper is reconsidered
by the National Election Commission (CNE), which in the past has accepted
a significant portion as being valid. These are added to the preliminary
results announced in each municipality, to give the final result, and
assembly seats are then assigned.

(National election procedures for 2004 have not been defined, but will be
very similar to this.)

GOVERNMENT REJECTS INCREASED LOCAL POWER

Plans for increased decentralisation and democratisation at local level,
which were being widely discussed last year (see Bulletin 26), have been
rejected by government. There will be no increase in the number of
municipalities, and the proposed new law on "local state bodies" (orgaos
locais do estado) largely maintains the present system of rigid
hierarchies and tight central control. "Local state bodies" are
provincial, district and lower level governments. The proposed law was
approved by the Council of Ministers on 8 October and will go to
parliament shortly.

The draft law makes clear that all officials respond upwards and there is
virtually no requirement that officials pay any attention to the views of
the people. An earlier draft of the law included a proposal for a
consultative district council to include community leaders and
representatives of local organisations, but this has been dropped.

This would have built on the experience of a UNDP project which created
district consultative councils in Nampula. Various agencies are proposing
similar councils in neighbouring provinces. But these will now remain aid
agency linked, rather than becoming part of local empowerment.

An earlier draft would have made district administrators part of the
formal provincial government, which would have encouraged contact with
lower levels, but this, too, has been dropped.

The draft law makes few mentions of local people. Links are to be
maintained with traditional authorities. The "chefe" of an administrative
post (chefe do posto administrativo) is expected to "assure the link
between the administrative authorities of the state and local
communities", to "analyse complaints and suggestions of citizens" and to
"have public meetings to give information [and to] listen to local
communities about their life."

At all levels, officials are expected to "promote the participation" of
local communities and traditional authorities in development activities
and in the solution of their problems. But in sharp contrast to the
municipalities law, there is no suggestion that local people should have
any power or any formal say in these activities.

This reflects a change in both donor and government thinking.
Decentralisation was the fashion of the early 1990s. Donors pushed it and
were an important support for those in government who wanted to
decentralise. Donors have now shifted back to wanting central control of
funds, through national budget support and SWAPs (Sector-Wide Approaches
where donors join together at central level to set policy for health,
agriculture, etc.). This, in turn, reinforced the view of those in Frelimo
and government who oppose decentralisation.

This is also reflected in changes to the constitution. The 1990
constitution (art 185) said "local sate bodies have the objective of
organising participation of citizens in the solutions of their own
problems and promoting local development". The 1996 amendment to the
constitution replaced this with "local state bodies have the function of
representing the state at local level for administration and development."

The proposed law does not, however, encroach on the municipalities. It
does formalise the legal responsibility of the governor for inspection,
which is already in the municipalities law, but gives the governor no
right to interfere except where there are violations of law. Indeed, the
draft law says local state bodies must respect the autonomy of the
municipalities and must coordinate their plans and programmes with the
municipalities.

The proposed law will give local officials important powers over
international NGOs and aid agencies working in their areas. Governors are
to be given authority "to orient and accompany the conception and
implementation of activities by agents of international cooperation in
their province." District administrators will have the right to orient and
accompany the implementation, but not the conception, of aid activities.

Following the experience of the 2001 and 2002 floods, governors and
district administrators are to be given emergency powers in the event of
disasters, including the power both to direct locally based military
forces and to force the use of private resources for "civil defence".