International Observers Cautiously Approve Mozambican Poll
http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=A46D0E:2F72C9DAll major observer groups praise poll workers for doing their jobs
well
Armando Guebuza The very early returns from Mozambique's general
election put ruling party candidate Armando Guebuza in the lead,
although the opposition warns that votes have not yet been counted in
its strongholds. Most international election observer groups have
given their preliminary approval to the way the poll was conducted,
even though the final result may not be known for quite some time.
All of the major observer groups have praised Mozambican poll workers
for doing their jobs well. They also congratulated the Mozambican
people for voting in a peaceful and orderly fashion, although there
were a few concerns over the apparently very low turnout.
The European Union has the largest observer mission, with 130 poll
monitors who visited nearly 1,400 polling stations. The EU observers
said voting and counting were well-organized, and the polling staff
were committed and well-trained.
But EU chief observer Javier Pomes of Spain said the group is still
concerned that election officials may not give them full access to the
final results tally sheets.
He says, "Right now, we hope that we will be able to be present at the
results center, and that we will have access to the results sheets,
because this is very important in being able to fully evaluate the
electoral process."
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter led a team of observers from his
organization, the Carter Center. He elaborated on the need for access
to the results sheets.
"If there are large numbers, or substantial numbers of ballots or
final tally sheets thrown out, we believe that the observers, domestic
and international, should have complete confirmation of the reasons
for those invalidations," said Jimmy Carter.
That was a problem in the last general election in 1999, when hundreds
of thousands of votes were discarded, but observers were not able to
confirm why. Most of them came from northern and central districts
where the opposition RENAMO party is strongest. RENAMO has complained
that its voters were kept away from the polls in some areas this time
around.
The observer groups also generally agree on a number of shortcomings
in this year's poll, including the difficulty that people in some
rural areas had in getting to polling stations.
The chairman of the Commonwealth observer mission is Vaughan Lewis,
the former prime minister of the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia.
"Unfortunately some polling stations did not open at all, and some
opened a day late," said Vaughan Lewis. "And in places, there was
confusion about the location of the polling stations. As a result,
some people were unable to vote. In rural areas, distances to polling
stations were sometimes excessive. These are unwelcome shortcomings."
The Carter Center offered a few more details about irregularities in
RENAMO areas, including the arrest of several local RENAMO officials
before the poll. The center also confirmed the party's allegation that
police refused to allow RENAMO party agents to spend the night with
the ballot boxes in a few places. The European Union mission said that
happened at about five percent of polling stations.
President Carter said only two incidents appeared serious enough to
possibly invalidate the results from those areas, including one
polling station at which only four people were able to vote out of a
possible 1,000.
Overall, most of the international observers so far agree with Vaughan
Lewis of the Commonwealth observer mission.
"We have concluded that, overall, the voting phase of the elections
went well," he said. "We came across few serious irregularities.
Everywhere, the secrecy of the ballot was assured. Polling station
staff adhered to the prescribed procedures, were efficient and helpful
to voters."
The counting of ballots is proceeding slowly. The electoral commission
is required by law to release the results no later than December 17.
If no presidential candidate gets more than half of the votes, the
election could go to a second round, although neither of the major
parties believes that will happen.
Most of the observer missions will scale back their presence in
Mozambique fairly soon, but will keep some observers in the country
until the entire process is done.