Mozambique election results being doctored – EU

Election observers work­ing for the European Union (EU) say some voting results have been doctored in Mo­zambique, as unrest in the country continues to grow.

Thousands of people joined opposition protests on Monday that were called by independent presidential candidate Venân­cio Mondlane.

He blames security forces for gunning down his lawyer Elvino Dias and another political official called Paulo Guambe in the same car last Friday – but they deny any wrongdoing.

Official results from the general election held on 9 October are due to announced by Friday.

Evidence has been found of “irregularities during counting and unjustified alteration of election results at polling station and district level”, said the EU observer mission in a statement on Tuesday.

It is now urging “the electoral bodies to conduct the tabulation process in a trans­parent and credible manner, ensuring the traceability of polling station results”.

Vote-buying, inflated voter rolls in strongholds of the governing Frelimo party and voter intimidation have all been report­ed by the US-based International Republi­can Institute, which also sent a multination­al election observer mission to the southern African nation.

Mozambique’s national results are meant to be published on the electoral commis­sion’s website for all to see, but last month the body said its website had suffered a cyber-attack. The website remains inactive.

Fifty-year-old presidential hopeful Venâncio Mondlane, who has the backing of f opposition party Podemos, has already claimed victory and alleges that the killing of his aides on Friday night was politically motivated.

“This was a crime committed by the de­fence and security forces. There’s no doubt about it. The special forces killed Elvino [Dias],” he has said.

Mondlane rallied people in cities across Mozambique to protest against the killings and against what he says is the theft of the election. —BBC

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