Last night, in the first section of the Judicial Court of the City of Tete, the trial on the challenge to the results of the intermediate tabulation of the elections of October 9, last, approved by vote of the District Elections Commission (CDE), began.

New Democracy (ND) submitted an appeal alleging the disappearance of 137 notices in the legislative election, arguing that centralization ended when they had only processed 182 tables, as well as the vitiated notice in table number seven at Tete Secondary School.

In court, the coordinator of the electoral operations commission and member of the CDE, Agostinho Francisco, explained that one of the Renamo members said during the centralization of data that 137 notices were missing and asked for a recount, but he understood that it was not his responsibility to authorize it.

"I didn't refuse a recount. I just said that it didn't fall within my remit. That's how I understood it at the time. Nor did I see the written complaint," he argued.

Regarding the vitiated notice, although in the 19th plenary session convened by the CDE he acknowledged its existence and explained that there had been bad faith, when questioned by the judge in the case, Otília Santos, he said that he no longer remembered it.

For their part, the two technicians from the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) in Tete City, who were heard in court, said that it was not a complaint, but a conversation that took place at the end of the proceedings. They guaranteed that the notices and minutes were complete.

The Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) has in fact asked the court to notify the Provincial Electoral Commission (CPE) to attach copies of the minutes and notices of the city's polling stations to the case file, as it believes these are essential to shed light on the case.

She also asked that ND be instructed to attach a copy of the complaint. The judge granted the request and because it was almost two o'clock in the morning, suspended the trial and scheduled it to continue today. (News)