16 names were proposed by the Electoral Observatory, a coalition of religious bodies and NGOs that is far and away the most representative civil society body in the country. As in the formation of the previous CNE, in 2007, the Electoral Observatory held a democratic and transparent procedure to select its candidates. And just as in 2007, several groups paid no attention to the Electoral Obervatory and submitted their candidates individually to the ad-hoc commission.
A seven member jury, chaired by Bishop Dinis Matsolo, of the Mozambique Christian Council, made the Electoral Observatory’s final choice. The three candidates who topped the Jury’s internal poll were prominent journalist Salomao Moyana (editor of the weekly paper “Magazine Independente”), former Supreme Court judge Joao Carlos Trindade, and Constitutional lawyer Gilles Cistac.
Trindade has an outstanding career in the Mozambican judiciary. It was he who established the independence of the Supreme Court when, in 1990, he threw out the high treason charges concocted against former chief of staff of the armed forces, Sebastiao Mabote, accused of plotting a coup d’etat on the slimmest of evidence.
Trindade was also one of the three appeals judges who confirmed the verdict and prison sentences against the six men convicted of the murder, in November 2000, of the country’s foremost investigative journalist. Carlos Cardoso. With this track record, Trindade would bring enormous prestige to the CNE.
Among the other candidates are anti-poverty activist Paulo Cuinica, who is a member of the current CNE, nominated by the Electoral Observatory. The jury selected him despite strong criticism of his failure to represent civil society interests on the CNE over the past six years. Also on the Electoral Observatory slate are human rights activists Ivete Mafundza and Ana Monteiro, researchers Alfiado Zunguze and Anastacio Chambese, and the former secretary-general of the Mozambican Writers’ Association, Jorge de Oliveira.
Among the organizations that have submitted individual candidates are the National Confederation of Free and Independent Unions (CONSILMO), which is the smaller of the country’s two trade union federations, the Mozambican Bar Association, the Mozambican Association of Secretaries, the Nampula Association of Young Electricians, the Association for the Conservation and Development of Nature, and the Association of the Martin Luther King Institute.
The term of office of the ad-hoc commission ends on 25 April – by then it must submit a list of between 12 and 16 names to the Assembly plenary, which will then elect, by secret ballot, the three civil society members of the CNE.
The outgoing CNE contains five nominees from political parties (three from the ruling Frelimo Party and two from the former rebel movement Renamo), and eight from civil society. But the new electoral law, approved in December, skews the composition of the CNE in favour of political parties, largely in order to accommodate the second opposition force, the MDM (Mozambique Democratic Movement).
There will now be eight CNE members appointed by the political parties (five by Frelimo, two by Renamo and one by the MDM), a judge appointed by the Higher Council of the Judicial Magistracy, an attorney appointed by the Higher Council of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and only three nominees from civil society.
Asked how the ad-hoc commission will reach its short list of 12 to 16 names, Moreira Vasco said it will first check that the candidates meet the legal requirements – that is, that they are at least 25 years old, and have submitted their curriculum vitae, a certificate from the organisation they represent, a copy of their identity card, and a declaration of no criminal record.
After checking those formalities, the commission will look for those candidates who meet criteria of suitability and responsibility. “In any case, by law we must select 16 candidates at most”, he stressed.
Complicating matters is the fact that Renamo has announced a boycott of this year’s municipal elections and the general elections scheduled for October 2014. Renamo has refused to appoint the members to which it is entitled on the CNE and on the ad-hoc commission. A report in the Sunday paper “Domingo” suggested that the two Renamo members on the existing CNE will simply continue in office. But there is no provision in the new law that would allow this.
It s not yet clear whether Renamo deputies will take part in the election of the three civil society CNE members or will boycott this too.
Post published in: Africa News