The National Electoral Commission (CNE) has started the vote counting process after millions of voters cast their ballots on Wednesday (09) to choose the President of the Republic, deputies, provincial governors and members of the municipal assemblies.

The official results should be announced within 15 days, but the competing parties could start announcing their partial results as early as Thursday.

According to a Voice of America (VOA)The electoral observation platform Sala da Paz said in a statement that the closing of the vote "took place without any significant incidents and the process was carried out in accordance with the established rules and regulations".

However, the organization said it had noted, "with some concern, the apparent lack of conditions for counting to begin, due to insufficient light in the voting room".

The note adds that the 800 observers visited a total of 3,717 polling stations across the country, reporting "concerns about the lighting conditions in 1,239 [33.3%] of the polling stations, due to insufficient electric light".

"During the day, there were cases of polling station staff caught red-handed with too many ballot papers in an attempt to insert them into the ballot box at closing time, lengthy queues and the arrival of voters interested in casting their ballots at the last minute, causing floods and unrest," says the same publication.

The observers also found the presence of voters with "intent to control votes" in 798 (21.5%) of the polling stations visited.

The European Union observer mission and the Mais Integridade platform of civil society organizations said they had not observed any major problems.

Meanwhile, Joseph Hanlon, an advisor to Mais Integridade, quoted by Reuters, stressed that normally "polling day always goes well, but the count is much more complicated".

A total of 17,163,686 voters were registered to vote, of which 333,839 will vote in seven African and two European countries.

In these seventh elections, the President of the Republic, 250 members of parliament, 794 members of municipal assemblies and 10 governors will be elected.

(Photo DR)