Mozambique: Renamo Says 120 Names Taken Off Electoral Roll in Morrumbala

A Renamo delegate in Morrumbala, Zambézia, was arrested Friday after protesting that at least 120 names of Renamo members have been replaced on the electoral roll by other people. Artur Singano Lampião is representative for Renamo in Majoão neighbourhood. Police accuse him of mobilizing Renamo member to verify their registration after the official date to do this. He is still detained.

Renamo obtained an up-to-date copy of the roll, and checked to see if its members were on the list, and so far has found the 120 members have been removed from the voters roll. Renamo has provided a list of the people removed and the names of their replacements.

Below is an excerpt from the Renamo list of replaced names on the register for polling stations at 25 de June primary school (original name, left, and substitution name, right) and below are the voters cards for those two people. On the first line of the card, in brackets, is the registration post  (the school) number, then register book number (01), and then the card number.

Importance of collecting and recording voters cards

STAE confirms that anyone with a voters card can vote, even if their name is not in the register book. So, in principle, these people in Morrumbala, can still vote. But the practice is different.

Frelimo has been accused not just of manipulating the voters rolls, but also of naming key polling station presidents (heads). Thus when these people present their card, the head may simply say you cannot vote because you are not on the roll, or because someone with that card number has already voted. In practice, it will be very hard to challenge the polling station president.