The 17 million Mozambican citizens eligible to vote will go to the polls next Wednesday, October 9. Voter campaigns for the general elections ended yesterday, Sunday. For two days, between today and tomorrow, potential voters will be able to revisit the promises to decide which party and candidate to vote for.

All the parties and candidates registered for the ballot were entitled to airtime on state channels. However, the private media also broadcast the agendas and promises of the contenders.

In principle, at least in the state media, airtime and coverage should be fair, impartial and impartial.

This exercise was especially analyzed by the Mais Integridade electoral consortium, which found an imbalance in approaches, depending on the party or candidate. Overall, the Frelimo party was more "cherished" by the media, radio (one), television (four) and newspapers (eleven - four dailies and seven weeklies), during the campaigns.

This can be seen in the weekly analyses published by the consortium: in the first week, 235 radio and television pieces were analyzed. For Frelimo, 57 pieces were covered (24.2%); MDM 32 (13.6%); Renamo 31 (13.1%); and Podemos 14 (5.9%).

The same trend was seen in subsequent weeks. In 1,470 pieces analyzed in the second week, 32% in newspapers and 68% in broadcasting (radio and television), Frelimo had 29% in broadcasting, against 17% for Renamo; 16% for MDM; and six percent for Podemos. In the weeklies, Frelimo had 38% of total coverage, against 21% for Renamo, 19% for MDM; and 18% for Podemos. In the dailies, Frelimo had 42% of the total pieces published, followed by Renamo with 24%, MDM with 18% and Podemos with 11%.

In the third week, 2,482 pieces of information were analyzed, of which 717 were in newspapers and 1,765 in radio. Of the total analyzed in the newspapers, Frelimo had 81% of coverage; against 44% for Renamo; 35% for MDM; and 30 for Podemos. In broadcasting, Frelimo has 30% of the units analyzed, followed by Renamo with 18%, MDM with 17% and Podemos with seven percent.

In the fourth week, 2,805 pieces were analyzed, of which 786 were in newspapers and 2019 in broadcasting. In the newspapers, Frelimo dominated the coverage with 84%; against 41% for Renamo; 35 for MDM; and 29 for Podemos. In broadcasting, Frelimo has 29% of the units analyzed; followed by Renamo with 17%; MDM with 16% and Podemos with seven percent.

In the fifth week, 1,894 pieces were analyzed, plus 980 units of airtime published on public radio and television. This week, Mais Integridade did not present the media analysis data as before. However, it noted with clarity that "FRELIMO continued to receive privileged coverage in relation to the other political parties and, on many occasions, with elements that illustrate the media's intention to support Daniel Chapo's candidacy, looking for tricks to exclude the other candidates.". He pointed to the fact that, on one television channel, a piece by the Frelimo candidate ran for 12 minutes, while the opposition had an average of three minutes of airtime. Also, on the same television, the fact that Venâncio Mondlane's daily campaign activity was not broadcast.

In fact, it had already been noted that Frelimo candidate Daniel Chapo was benefiting from the TVs "through the use of semi-directs, long pieces that offer constructions and narrative descriptions of their campaign with a positive tone; which rarely occurs in the campaign of opposition parties".

Questioned by MZNews On how discrepancies in airtime and approaches in the media can influence voting trends, the Executive Director of Misa Mozambique, Ernesto Nhanale, explained that the impact is only at the level of perceptions, positive or negative, about the candidate or party.