6.3 Level Playing Field

6.3 Level playing field MDM objected strongly to its exclusion and said it had submitted all of its documents. The party was new and overstretched, and it cut things very close; in four provinces it submitted only the minimum number of candidates, which meant that a single missing document meant that the whole list fell. There was also substantial debate about whether or not the confusingly drafted laws allowed parties time to bring missing documents. And there was inconsistency; a least two small parties that might be seen as taking votes away from the MDM, UDM and PLD, said they had been given an opportunity to replace missing documents and even to substitute candidates, while this was refused to other parties. Because of CNE secrecy, this cannot be checked. On 16 September the CNE issued a ruling (Deliberação nº 65, dated 5 September) saying that it would not publish the names of rejected candidates nor the reason for rejection, although this material was given to parties. The group of budget support donors (G19) issued a statement saying that the failure to give this information ‘gives an impression of lack of transparency.’ MDM appealed to the Constitutional Council (CC), which rejected the appeal (acórdão nº9/cc/2009). But the CC ruling was much more detailed than CNE statements, and showed three areas of major disorganization by the CNE: • Boxes of submitted documents were given to pairs of CNE members to check. But there were no pre-agreed procedures or systems, and the pairs acted differently. Thus, some did contact parties and some did not. • The CC ruling is largely based on the CNE log book of transactions (mapa de controlo) which is secret and has never been shown to anyone outside except the CC, which accepted its accuracy. The CNE later admitted at least one major error in the mapa de controlo led it to put PDD on the ballot paper in Mocuba, Zambezia, even though PDD did not submit any candidates there. (By being on the ballot paper, it gained enough votes to have won a seat.) . • Receipts given to parties disagreed with the mapa de controlo given to the CC. For example, the MDM receipt says that it submitted 16 candidates and 6 supplementaries in Cabo Delgado, yet the document given to the CC says that MDM submitted 16 candidates plus 3 supplementaries (the minimum needed) and 3 were rejected as lacking documents – but it the receipt given to the MDM was correct, it still had enough (16 + 3). Similarly, an official document given to the MDM by the CNE (Notificação nº90) is significantly different from excerpt of the mapa de controlo for MDM in Cabo Delgado published by the CC (acórdão nº9) These issues were never resolved. The sloppiness and incompetence of the CNE was compounded by total secrecy to create an atmosphere of distrust. The CNE was accused of acting in favour of Frelimo and Renamo (which had members on the CNE) against the MDM and there was clearly space for such action. Thus the exclusion of MDM in an obscure way from most provinces was highly controversial. The European Union, Commonwealth and EISA all said the election did not provide a ‘level playing field’ for all participants, largely because of the exclusion of MDM. The Electoral Observatory said the CNE had acted in a way that was ‘unjust’ and of doubtful legality. The whole process was murky, made worse by the total lack of transparency, and showed the CNE in the worst light. Questions were also raised about the neutrality of the Constitutional Council, and in particular about its willingness to make a ruling (acórdão nº9/cc/2009) based on a secret document, the mapa de controlo, which was never made available to one of the parties in the case, the MDM. Natural justice would seem to require that all parties in a case have access to all documents. Did it make a difference? It is possible to estimate the vote MDM would have received if it has stood in all provinces, because in the four provinces where it did stand, the MDM received a similar percentage of the vote in the parliamentary contest as its presidential candidate Daviz Simango received in the Presidential race. Daviz Simango stood across the country, so if we assume the Post-Election Review of the Mozambique General Elections of 2009 - Hanlon – 20 same proportion of the vote in the 9 constituencies in which MDM could not stand, we estimate (using the d’Hondt method) that MDM might have doubled its parliamentary representation, gaining 9 additional seats: 3 seats in Nampula, 2 seats in Zambezia, and 1 seat each in Cabo Delgado, Tete, Manica and Maputo province. 6.4 Party funding The government allocated MT 50 million for the political parties, about US$ 1.85 million. The law sets some criteria and CNE does the distribution. Nineteen parties and coalitions were given funds. Frelimo gained the largest amount (MT 22 mn, $810,000) while the tiny PRDS which is standing only in Niassa received the least (MT 107,000, $4000). The MT 50 million was divided into four equal parts by the National Election Commission. One quarter (MT 12.5 mn, $462,000) was divided equally among the three presidential candidates. The next quarter went to the two parties in parliament, divided according to the number of seats. But Renamo was in the previous parliament in a coalition with several small parties, so the share of MT 4.5 mn went to the Renamo Electoral Union, and it was never clear what portion went to the small parties in the coalition. The third quarter went to all parties standing for national assembly, in proportion to the number of seats they are contesting. The fourth quarter went to parting standing for provincial assembly, also in proportion to the number of seats being contested. No justification for this distribution was ever given by the CNE nor why it was different from an earlier announcement (Deliberação nº61 of 16 August) that the money distributed in three equal parts, for presidential, parliamentary, and provincial assembly elections. Figure 6.6 Funds for parties (in Meticais), as allocated by CNE Ballot Parties/ Presidential Seats in Standing for Provincial Total paper Coalitions parliament seats in Assemblies position parliament 1 Frelimo 4 166 667 8 000 000 1 914 826 7 874 801 21 956 296 RUE 4 500 000 4 500 000 2 Renamo 4 166 667 1 914 826 3 638 357 9 719 852 3 PLD 1 554 641 1 554 641 4 MDM 4 166 667 520 833 617 384 5 504 884 5 PPD 137 868 137 868 6 ADACD 1 102 941 1 102 941 7 Ecologista 367 647 367 647 8 PAZS 689 338 689 338 9 MPD 122 549 122 549 10 PARENA 107 230 107 230 11 ALIMO 689 338 689 338 12 PT 107 230 107 230 13 UDM 153 166 153 166 14 PDD 949 755 169 458 1 119 212 15 PVM 1 531 563 1 531 563 16 UE 245 095 245 095 17 PANAOC 137 868 137 868 18 UM 145 527 145 527 19 PRDS 107 230 107 230 Total 12 500 000 12 500 000 12 500 000 12 500 000 12 500 000 Post-Election Review of the Mozambique General Elections of 2009 - Hanlon – 21 7. Election campaign The formal election campaign ran from 13 September through 25 October; there can be no campaigning on the two days before voting. Although campaigning can and does start earlier, the formal campaign period gives candidates and parties extra rights – to hold marches and rallies, post and distribute campaign material, and take time off work. Public halls can be used for meetings. State radio and TV gives air time to each party and presidential candidate, in a rota decided by lots drawn with the CNE. All state media are restricted to give balanced coverage to all parties and candidates. No special rules apply to private media, except that there can be no opinion polls published after that start of the campaign. (There are also no exit polls.) In general, the campaign was calm and quiet, with few incidents of violence. Campaigning often consists of caravans of cars, motorcycles and bicycles driving through town hooting horns and playing music, sometimes ending with a rally, often in the local market. There are leaflets and posters. There were incidents of young people (often too young to vote) acting for one party to tear down posters of the opposition, interrupt marches, and disrupt rallies with shouting or loud music. Frelimo as the party of government for 35 years was by far better organised, with an extensive network of party militants who are effective in campaigning and getting out the vote on polling day. In large part, this is simply good organisation, which in turn plays a key part in its regular victories. Frelimo also had substantially more money. But there were complaints of Frelimo overstepping the mark and abusing its position as predominant party. The law specifically prohibits the use of state resources in the campaign and in past election there were repeated complaints of Frelimo using state cars. In this election, the daily Mozambique Political Process Bulletin, which had 120 correspondents throughout the country, ran lists of state cars being used by Frelimo, and this seemed to serve as a check, reducing the use of state cars. In some places, civil servants complained of pressure to attend Frelimo rallies, or of departmental meetings being used to promote the ruling party.

Load more