CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL UPHOLDS EXCLUSION OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 001066

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV MZ
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL UPHOLDS EXCLUSION OF
OPPOSITION PARTIES

REF: A. MAPUTO 1058

B. MAPUTO 1033

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Matthew Roth for reasons 1.4 (b+d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: In a unanimous decision released late on
September 28, Mozambique's Constitutional Council (CC) upheld
a National Electoral Commission (CNE) determination to
exclude many opposition legislative candidates from the
October 28 elections. The CC decision came despite evidence
of CNE missteps and efforts by centrist FRELIMO members
arguing for a more inclusive approach. Now, only ruling
party FRELIMO and traditional opposition party RENAMO will
participate fully in the legislative elections.
Representatives of other parties, including the Democratic
Movement of Mozambique (MDM),have expressed strong
disappointment with what they view as partisan politics by
FRELIMO hardliners trumping transparency and diminishing
participation in the upcoming elections. With the decision,
FRELIMO can now garner a two-thirds "super-majority" in the
National Assembly, allowing the ruling party to change the
country's constitution at will. END SUMMARY.

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A LATE-NIGHT, SEMI-PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
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2. (C) At 10:30pm local time on September 28 (too late to
be covered by evening television news and past the normal
print media deadline--resulting in little in-depth coverage
of the issue on the morning of September 29),a spokesperson
for the Constitutional Council (CC) announced that the CC had
upheld the National Electoral Commission's (CNE) September 7
decision to disqualify a large number of opposition
legislative candidates. In a brief statement, the
spokesperson told members of the press that the CC's
unanimous decision would be presented to each party involved
in sealed envelopes, and would not be made public.

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CC DECIDES AGAINST MDM ON PROCEDURAL GROUNDS
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3. (C) On September 29, poloffs reviewed a copy of the
40-page CC decision against MDM legislative candidates. The
CC decision denies the appeal of the September 7 CNE decision
and declares null and void all/all MDM lists presented to the
CNE for 9 of 13 constituencies (including the most populous
Nampula and Zambezia provinces). The document states that
the submissions made on July 29 by MDM for these
constituencies 'did not follow procedure,' without giving any
additional clarification. The opinion continues that the CC
believes that CNE should have disqualified MDM from
additional constituencies. The CC finding also validates the
CNE decision to completely reject 7 parties, partially reject
an additional 20 parties, and fully approve only two
parties--FRELIMO and RENAMO--in the legislative elections.

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LEGAL EXPERTS SAY COUNCIL IGNORED ELECTION LAW
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4. (C) Local electoral law experts told poloffs on
September 29 that the CC legal opinion appears to ignore
requirements that the CNE failed to follow, specifically laws
establishing a procedure in which the CNE must notify parties
of documentary errors in their individual applications for
candidacy and allow them to resolve the errors put forward a
substitute candidate over a five-day timeline. According to
these experts, if the letter of the law were followed, fewer
legitimate candidates would have been rejected by the CNE,
leading to a more inclusive electoral field. These
perspectives track with straightforward legal arguments for
inclusion developed by a leading FRELIMO legal scholar (ref
A).

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PARTIES AND CIVIL SOCIETY REACT NEGATIVELY
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5. (C) Immediately following the CC press conference,
Venancio Mondlane, a board member of respected independent
domestic observer group Elections Observatory (OE),pulled a
banana from his jacket pocket, and told the press that
Mozambique was beginning to resemble it--an allusion to
banana republics. On September 29, poloffs spoke with MDM
electoral official Barnabe Nkomo and MDM Spokesman Jose de
Souza. Both officials said that the CC decision was

MAPUTO 00001066 002 OF 002


"depressing" and "a shame," leading them to question
Mozambique's democratic principles. De Souza described the
unanimous CC decision as a deviation of the electoral
process. In a conversation with poloffs the same day, RENAMO
Director of External Affairs Ivone Soares raised concerns for
democracy in Mozambique, questioning the right of the ruling
party, and specifically President Guebuza, to make electoral
decisions prior to the elections rather than the voters on
election day. MDM leader Daviz Simango is expected to give a
press conference early on September 30 to provide an official
party reaction to the CC decision.

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COMMENT: OPPOSITION NEUTRALIZED, FRELIMO IN CONTROL
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6. (C) Given the fairly clear legal arguments in support of
opposition parties and strong statements of concern by the
international community and civil society (ref B),it is
notable that the CC decision was unanimous-- even the
independent judge who has no public affiliation with either
FRELIMO or RENAMO sided with the rest of the court--and so
vehemently against the appeals to go as far as to declare
that MDM should have been excluded from even more
constituencies. Long-time observers of Mozambican politics
have already publicly accused the CC of being completely
controlled by FRELIMO hardliners and have criticized the
non-transparent manner in which the decision was divulged.
With MDM and other opposition parties now off the ballot in
most parts of the country for the October 28 election and an
increasingly disorganized RENAMO campaign, FRELIMO looks set
to consolidate power with a two-thirds "super-majority" in
the National Assembly, allowing the ruling party to change
the country's constitution at will, and further limiting
opposition participation in the country's democratic process.

ROTH