The position of the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos) party on the ballot paper for the choice of provincial governor in Nampula has been changed.

During the election campaign it was widely reported that the Podemos party's position on the ballot paper was 17th. On the contrary, in some provinces, such as Nampula (the country's largest constituency) and Cabo Delgado, the party appears in 16th position.

This situation has outraged the leader of the Podemos party in Nampula province, Dias Vasco Coutinho, who has promised not to vote until the situation is regularized.

"I don't know why this happened to us. We can't understand the legitimacy of the National Electoral Commission printing this paper, when there are numerous verification bodies to let the party be in position 16," he lamented.

"I haven't exercised my right yet because I don't want to legitimize a fraudulent process, because I don't know what motivations led these people to do this," he said, quoted by TV Miramar.

Coutinho said that the situation had already been reported to the party's legal bodies and that he was waiting for an opinion. "Only after that will I exercise my right to vote."

Unconfirmed information that has reached MZNews say that the ballot papers sent to polling stations in the city of Beira (Mafambisse), Sofala province, and South Africa do not include the Podemos party.

We tried unsuccessfully to contact the head of the Podemos party, Elvino Dias, to confirm this information.

However, on this subject, political analyst Dércio Alfazema said a short while ago on the Mozambique Television that these types of cases should be treated with due attention.

He explained that the position of any party on the ballot paper can change depending on the places where it is running for a position, so the ballot papers do not indicate the positions of the parties by means of numbers.