Cited in Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, Costa said that he had been contacted by the ONP in exactly the same way as he had been in 2007, when he stood for the first time as a candidate for the CNE.
“I received the proposal with pleasure, thought about it for a long time, and after analyzing the pros and contras, I decided to accept the challenge”, he said.
The head of the ad-hoc commission of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, which is drawing up a short list of candidates for the three places reserved for civil society on the CNE, Carlos Moreira Vasco, also insisted that Costa is a legitimate candidate.
“The Assembly received a long and complete nomination from the ONP on the candidacy for the CNE of Joao Leopoldo da Costa”, said Moreira Vasco. “This nomination, as the law envisages, consists of the personal documents of the candidate, and the minutes of the meeting which decided to propose his candidacy. These minutes are signed by all members of the secretariat of the ONP and by some members of the National Council”.
Yet on Monday, the ONP issued a statement denying that it had anything to do with Costa’s attempt to obtain a second term of office on the CNE. That statement said that no ONP body had met to endorse the name of Costa as a candidate for the CNE.
The ONP said that Costa had not been in contact with it about nominating him for a second term, and nor had anyone claiming to represent Costa. “We never dealt with correspondence about the candidacy of anybody for the CNE”, the statement declared.
The least that can be said about this turn of events is that the ONP has some explaining to do. The document that went to the Assembly and the Monday statement cannot both represent the position of the union.
By seeking a second term, Costa is breaking with precedent. None of his predecessors as chairpersons of the CNE ever sought a further five year term of office on the electoral office.
Attacks have been made on Costa that he is not fit to be a CNE member because of his known support for the ruling Frelimo Party. A photo showing Costa wearing a Frelimo T-shirt and cap has circulated widely on the Internet, and appears on the front page of the latest issue of the independent weekly “Savana”.
The photo is not really a smoking gun, since it seems to have been taken in 2006, the year before Costa was elected to the CNE and became its chairperson. There is no evidence that Costa has ever abused his CNE position to favour Frelimo – nonetheless the attacks against him leave their mark, and the question mark over his ability to perform his duties in an independent fashion could damage the public perception of the CNE.
From the names submitted by civil society organisations, the ad-hoc commission has selected 16 who will compete for the three CNE places. The Assembly plenary will vote for them in a secret ballot election.
Vasco Moreira refused to reveal the names – a rather futile gesture, since “Savana” had already obtained the list and punished it.
The law on the CNE passed in December reshaped the electoral body, increasing the weight of political parties, and dramatically reducing the number of appointees from civil society.
The outgoing CNE had five members appointed by the parliamentary parties (three by Frelimo, and two by the former rebel movement Renamo), and eight members from civil society.
The new CNE will still have 13 members – but eight of them will come from the political parties. Reflecting the current composition of the Assembly, that will be five from Frelimo, two from Renamo and one from the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).
There will be only three members from civil society, and two from the judicial system – a judge, appointed by the Higher Council of the Judicial Magistracy, and a prosecutor appointed by the Higher Council of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The five members appointed by Frelimo are Abílio da Conceição Dirual, António Muacorica, António Chipanga, Eugénia Chimpene and Rodrigues Timba, while the MDM has appointed Barnabe Ncomo.
Renamo, which is threatening to boycott the municipal elections scheduled for 20 November, has refused to appoint its two CNE members. The positions remain vacant and can be filled if and when Renamo changes its mind.
Post published in: Africa News