The National Election Commission (CNE) is conducting a study for the introduction of electronic voting in electoral processes in the country. This was revealed to the press by the president of the agency, Abdul Carimo Sau.
At the time Carimo Sau justified this idea of the need for this type of voting power ultimately to contribute to the credibility of the national elections, whose final results are always questioned by one of the competing parties,the second largest opposition party, Renamo ,led by Alfonso Dhlakama.
"We are conducting a study - attention a study - to determine the extent to which electronic voting may be a solution to the lack of confidence and the speed of dissemination of voter results,as in other countries. Between us there is no confidence in what we write and sign ,machines eventually can bring us this confidence. They can bring us this quickly. After the voting, the machines are shut down, the results are all funneled into a central command and are disclosed that same night. And that's possible, "said the leader of the CNE. Carimo Sau considers that in Mozambique there are conditions for electronic voting to succeed.
"Importantly, Mozambique has advanced a lot in the use of technology in terms of electoral management. Already the census, all of it,biometric.We make the level of the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) typing results of the election process that initiates the district level, where data is entered into a computer and then is taken into "flash" to the Provincial Directorate of STAE and this makes the sum using these technological means and from there the data is forwarded to the central level, where the same operation is performed. Therefore, we've progressed a lot and just missing electronic voting, "he emphasized.
On the other hand, the president of the CNE revealed that the body that directs the elections is preparing another document, this time about the changes it would like to see introduced in the electoral law.
" CNE believes that it should work with Parliament in the review process of the electoral legislation, so we are undertaking work in order to submit a document to Parliament to serve as a basis for discussion with other stakeholders of the electoral process . Of course this is not a bill (because the CNE is not a body with legislative initiative) but a document that purports to show the difficulties that the electoral bodies move to implementation of this procedure is not suited to our reality " he said.
The president of the national electoral oversight body aimed at reducing the number of members of the various electoral management bodies as one of the main points to consider when changing the legislation.
"We look, for example, at the number of elements that constitute the election management bodies. Only the first part requires the election management bodies of great sacrifices and charges. We are talking about facilities that do not exist to accommodate this number of elements, in such a way that, in the last election the members, the level of support agencies, did not work in very decent conditions.
Therefore, Parliament when it will make an assessment and approval of a law that speaks of the number of elements to the electoral bodies (at different levels) must take into account the reality of the country, "he said.
He noted that at present the country has no way to respond to this requirement of such large numbers of members of electoral management bodies.
On the other hand, and according to our source, the country is faced also with problems to support this electoral machine. "We are talking about spaces, we are talking about current means, we are talking about new materials and training people."
"We have a large country, where people who join the electoral bodies have no previous experience. We do not know what the criteria are that political parties notice to submit their candidates for these bodies, but what we find is that the vast majority have no previous experience and have no information, on the electoral law, or on the Constitution of the republic, let alone the various procedures necessary for the functioning of the electoral bodies. Hence, all these people need training and this type of training costs much money to the CNE, and the country. Therefore, we should review the way to establish the electoral bodies in the country, "he said.
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