The President of the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), Albino Forquilha, this afternoon expressed his disappointment at the meeting with the President of the Constitutional Council (CC), Lúcia Ribeiro. He believes that the CC will not release results that reflect the truth of the elections held on October 9.

At this afternoon's meeting between the parties, the CC explained that it aimed to clarify how the work to find the electoral truth is proceeding. But also to clarify the reasons for the apparent delay in releasing the results of the October 9th General Elections. Lúcia Ribeiro said that this would not be the occasion to discuss legal issues relating to the electoral disputes submitted to the body.

Albino Forquilha began by telling the Chair of the CC that the party had taken the initiative to deliver around 370 kg of minutes and public notices to the CC through the National Electoral Commission in order to contribute to electoral truth.

He told reporters: "I got the impression that the cases [submitted by the party] aren't being dealt with properly, because they haven't been answered or judged. Everything is put off until the results are validated. We would like to see the processes followed up step by step. So far, I'm not sure that there will be electoral truth," he warned

He said he hoped to see political parties and observers interested in the process of checking or comparing minutes and notices working with the CC. For Forquilha, this inclusion could in some way measure the transparency of the CC in the process of seeking electoral truth.

"Unfortunately, we have some mistrust of the entities that manage this process. Maybe we wouldn't be in all this fuss. [I'm unhappy not to have this group working with you on the reverification process," he lamented, still with the CC.

Lúcia Ribeiro said that at the CC level, political parties are not included in the process of verifying minutes and notices.

In front of the Chair of the CC, Albino Forquilho denied media reports that Podemos had only submitted complaints to the CC about electoral irregularities in only seven provinces.

"There are ten provinces, including the city of Maputo. I'd like that to be confirmed. Let it be clear that we have submitted [complaints] from all provinces," he said.

On the other hand, speaking to the press at the end of the meeting, he said that he left with the impression that the CC will not get to the electoral truth.

"It was important that there were other players like the political parties, national observers and journalists. This would assure us that there were as many men who verified what will be validated tomorrow. She tried to argue that the law didn't allow her to do this, but she also had the ability to return the file to the CNE to do so. It will be difficult to ascertain whether the elections were true if it is only the CC that makes the pronouncement, validating the results that it worked out on its own, without the participation of other entities. We need transparency in this process," he said.