The Mais Integridade Electoral Consortium says that 60% of the polling stations observed closed punctually at 6pm, while in the rest the voting process had to continue due to the existence of an average of 15 to 25 voters queuing to vote.
According to a statement from the Mais Integridade Consortium, the provinces with the most voters queuing after 6pm were Gaza, Nampula, Manica and Maputo Province.
The platform also reports that in the vast majority of polling stations where there was still a queue at 6pm, voters were able to vote, but in the rest, mainly in Nampula, Gaza and Niassa, they were not given this right. "For example, at the Muchenga EPC in Lichinga, at one of the polling stations that didn't close on time, the President didn't allow voters in the queue to vote because they had allegedly arrived after 6pm," reads the document.
In 82% of the tables reported, observers and candidate delegates were able to follow the closing of the table.
The main reasons for obstruction at the other tables were as follows, depending on the location: At a table in Campo do Benfica, Quelimane, Zambézia, an unidentified STAE person gave orders to the table president to expel the Mais Integridade observers; at the Josina Machel EPC in Tete City, an observer was intimidated in the afternoon by STAE agents who claimed that she would be kidnapped because she was a Mais Integridade observer, which tarnishes the image and work of STAE; at the Shandica EPC in Mandimba, Niassa, two young PODEMOS list delegates were detained by the police to prevent them from witnessing the closing and start of the count.
Also according to the statement that MZNews had access to, at an EPC table in Tchola, in Caia, Sofala, an MMV was found with 14 pre-marked ballot papers in favor of Frelimo, which led the population to beat up all the MMVs and the PRM had to intervene to take the MMVs to safety. After that, a fight broke out between candidate delegates and the police and the polling station had to close at 17.50 and only reopened at 18.00.
Set up in 2022, the "More Integrity" Electoral Consortium, which has been observing the 2024 elections since the registration phase, aims to contribute to electoral transparency and integrity by objectively and impartially assessing the conduct of the elections, producing public information and analysis on the various stages of the process, encouraging the level and quality of citizen participation and helping to reduce electoral tensions.
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