Mozambique’s Constitutional Council (CC), the body in charge of verifying the nomination papers of presidential candidates, has rejected six candidates who had submitted their nominations to contest in the October presidential elections.
Only three nominations sailed through. They include the incumbent
president Armando Guebuza, Daviz Simango who is the Mayor of Beira
from Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) and Afonso Dhlakama the
leader of the main opposition party-Renamo. Presidential elections are set for October 28.
Candidates rejected by the CC include, Yaqub Sibindy (leader of the Independent Party of Mozambique, PIMO), Raul Domingos (leader of the Party for Peace, Democracy and Development, PDD), Khalid Sidat (leader of the Independent Alliance of Mozambique, ALIMO), Leonardo Cumbe (proposed by the United Party of Mozambique for Democratic Freedom, PUMILD), Jose Viana (leader of the Union of Mozambican Democrats, UDM), Artur Jaquene (proposed by the Electoral Union coalition, formed by the Ecology Party, PEMO, and the National Unity Party, PUN).
According to the ruling of the CC released in Maputo, the nomination papers of the six candidates were rejected because they failed to collect the required number of signatures, at least 10,000, demanded by law.
Said the CC’, “During a subsequent physical match of the nomination papers we found numerical discrepancies between the number of supporting signatures declared and those that have been effectively counted, which in no case was relevant in determining the validation of the required minimum number of supporting signatures”.
These defects include, among others, repeated signatures of the same person in the same or different nomination sheets, mismatch between the name and number of voter’s registration card, nomination papers contain forged or fraudulent signatures, nomination papers filled in and signed by the same individuals and same fingerprint used for the different voter’s card.
