24 February 2009
It's early morning in the border town of Namaacha, but few local people are lying in bed. At 6 a.m., the town is a hive of activity. All kinds of people - old and young, women and men - are queuing outside the polling station, census cards in hand, waiting to exercise one of their key democratic rights.
The town of some 40,000 inhabitants, situated in Maputo province at the southern tip of the country, was recently elevated to the category of municipality. This November morning, voters are also assembling in 42 other municipalities - the third municipal elections since Mozambique adopted a multi-party system back in 1994.
To ensure that the elections are a success, DFID is supporting the work of the Electoral Observatory. A coalition of eight civil society organisations, this monitors polling stations, double-checks votes and, to guarantee a decent voter turnout, carries out election-awareness campaigns.
Voting begins
As the morning gets underway in Namaacha, the queues grow longer. There are a few worried faces among the polling centre staff: the local electorate is eager to vote, but the election kits have yet to arrive. These kits are integral to, in the words of the municipal elections' motto, "free, fair and transparent" voting. As well as containing ballot papers and electoral registers, they come with pots of indelible ink. After voting, each person will dip a finger into one of these - the mark shows that they've used their one vote and therefore cannot cast another.
Just before 7 a.m., the kits arrive. As the transparent ballot boxes are set up and the queues begin to move forward, excitement fills the air. The atmosphere is heady, but between now and 6 p.m., when the polling stations officially close, things run as planned. Staff give instructions in a clear, consistent way, and voters listen and cooperate. Observers from the Electoral Observatory report no major incidents.
As the clock strikes six, the ballot boxes are sealed, ready for counting. This is a lengthy process - going on all night and into the next day. Supervised by Maputo's Elections Administration and Technical Secretariat, an intermediate count will be reached as dawn breaks, with the figures then sent off to the provincial secretariat. It has been a demanding day, for polling staff and voters alike, but protocol was upheld and the people of Namaacha showed their commitment to the democratic process.
For the 19 November 2008 elections, the Electoral Observatory had representatives in each of the 43 municipalities. They found the elections were conducted democratically and transparently, and in January 2009 the results were validated by Mozambique's Constitutional Council. Now, with provincial and presidential elections due to take place later in 2009, DFID is continuing to support the Observatory to ensure that democracy wins out again.
Facts and stats
- The Electoral Observatory (EO) comprises the following organizations: Mozambican Association for Democracy Development (AMODE), Centre for Democracy and Development Studies (CEDE), Christian Counsel of Mozambique (CCM), Islamic Counsel of Mozambique (CISLAMO), Mozambican League for Human Rights (LDH), Organization for Conflict Resolution (OREC), Forum for Civic Education (FECIV).
- DFID’s contribution is £375,000 over three years. At the end of the current programme, the EO will publish lessons learnt.
- DFID’s support to the EO aims to improve the government of Mozambique’s accountability to its citizens through free and fair elections.
- Nine parties and political coalitions ran for the 2008 municipal elections and more than 7,073 candidates ran to be members of the municipal assemblies.