Two polling station presidents were caught extracting ballot papers from the three electoral registers (PR, AR, AP), some of which had already been signed and stamped, even though no voters were present.

The case took place in Maganja da Costa district, Zambezia province, on Saturday, where the electoral authorities made an exception for the process to take place in 19 polling stations.

The fragrances were checked at tables 080113-02 and 080109-06.

The procedure is alien to electoral law, and the justification was to make the process more flexible to the arrival of voters.

One of the presidents quoted by STV acknowledged that the attitude was contrary to the voting procedures, and that this had been agreed by the presiding officers.

The Director of the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration in the district went to the scene and confirmed the situation.

"We went to correct the situation, explaining that you can't sign ballots at the same time while you're waiting for voters. The procedure must be done in the presence of the voter," he said, noting, however, that this does not constitute an electoral offense.

The presidents of the polling stations were allegedly persuaded by an election observer to do this.