The trial of 39 polling station presidents accused of committing fraud in favor of Frelimo during the local elections held in October last year began on Tuesday in Quelimane.

The 39 are accused of refusing to sign the minutes of the polling stations and the public notices and of falsifying the minutes in an attempt to give Frelimo victory, according to AIM.

One of the prosecutors, Quiara Sozinho, said that the defendants "unleashed electoral fraud in order to undermine the process by favoring Frelimo".

Their manipulation altered the number of seats in the Quelimane municipal assembly allocated to each of the competing parties.

Defense lawyer Abilio Antonio tried to delay the trial, claiming that he needed time to consult the prosecution's documents, since the 39 defendants had not been notified beforehand.

But the judge, Crimpalho Antonio, denied this request. It was not true that the court did not notify the accused - in fact, "the accused refused to be notified," he said.

The court took steps to notify them and went to the institutions they work for, the judge said (presumably referring to the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration, STAE, which was responsible for the polling stations).

"They tried to obstruct the work of the administration of justice by not providing us with the correct data," said the judge. "We warned them that they would be guilty of the crime of disobedience."

The accused include coaches who entered the polling stations pretending to be presiding officers.

Initially, the fraud seemed to have worked. When the National Electoral Commission (CNE) declared the initial results, it claimed that Frelimo had won - even though a parallel vote count showed a clear victory for the main opposition party, Renamo.

But the Constitutional Council, the country's highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, reversed the CNE's decision, recounted the results of the Quelimane polling stations and declared that Renamo had won a majority in the Municipal Assembly and, as a result, the current mayor, Manuel de Araújo, had been re-elected.

The CNE had claimed that Frelimo beat Renamo in Quelimane by 38,595 votes to 36,399. But when the Constitutional Council recounted the votes, it found that Renamo had 39,021 and Frelimo only 35,973.

Renamo's number of seats on the Quelimane municipal council increased from 22 to 23, while Frelimo's fell from 23 to 22.

Although the Constitutional Council undid some of the fraud in Quelimane and several other municipalities, it did not explain exactly why it had altered the results, leaving suspicions that it had ignored many other frauds. (AIM)

Photo DR