The election for provincial secretary of the Mozambican Women's Organization (OMM) in Inhambane, which is taking place this Thursday (13), is shrouded in controversy, with accusations of irregularities and alleged fraudulent manoeuvres.

Frelimo members in that province accuse the current provincial first secretary, Adélia Macucule, of conducting an electoral process marked by undue exclusions and a lack of transparency.

According to the complaint, cited by Dossiers & Facts newspaperIn the run-up to the election, three candidates submitted their applications to run for the position, namely Flora Augusto, Luísa Handela and Benedita Francisco. However, the WMO's Jurisdictional Council rejected the candidacies of Luísa Handela and Benedita Francisco for allegedly not meeting the necessary requirements, while approving that of Flora Augusto, who met all the required conditions.

Indifferent to the decision of the Jurisdiction Council, the first provincial secretary, Adélia Macucule, is accused of having sent only the files of the unsuccessful candidates to the WMO headquarters in Maputo, inexplicably excluding Flora Augusto's file, which led to her being removed from the ballot.

The whistleblowers explain that, on the eve of the election, the excluded candidate was told at the provincial secretary's office that her file had not returned from Maputo for unknown reasons, so the election would have to go ahead without her. Disgruntled, the sources say, Flora Augusto contacted the secretary-general of this social organization of the Frelimo party, Mariazinha Niquice, who denied that the organization's headquarters had received any documentation relating to her candidacy.

It is also reported that, at the beginning of today's activities, the candidate requested the dispatch note proving that her file had been forwarded, but the document was not presented, reinforcing suspicions of deliberate exclusion.

The situation has led the president of the WMO's Jurisdictional Council to resign as a sign of protest against the irregularities in the electoral process. The election, which is taking place under the supervision of Adélia Macucule, only has the candidacies of Luísa Handela and Benedita Francisco, both of whom were initially rejected by the Jurisdictional Council.

(Photo DR)