New Technology Meets Familiar Problems in Mozambique’s Election
In one of the world’s poorest countries, sophisticated voter registration systems have become a means for the ruling party to maintain control
Mozambique’s local elections were billed as a litmus test for the country’s new voting technology ahead of this year’s presidential election.
Photographer: Alfredo Zuniga/AFP/Getty Images
In October, Shafee Sidat was on a victory lap around Marracuene, a poor district on the outskirts of Mozambique’s capital city, Maputo. It had been one week since election day, and as early municipal results came in, the business tycoon and mayoral candidate proclaimed himself winner. Sidat, sporting a red and white football shirt, the colors of ruling party Frelimo, raised his fist in salute to the crowd of supporters marching alongside him. Local WhatsApp groups in the area buzzed with his celebratory message: “Marracuene is the place to be, and with Frelimo, there is no doubt.”
But there was. Within days, citizens and election observers were making accusations of electoral fraud across the country. Videos circulated purporting to show ballot stuffing. By the time local newspaper A Verdade called one municipality for opposition party Renamo, based on results seen by their reporter, those results had already been changed to put Frelimo on top. Several prominent news outlets ran stories based on initial and parallel counts, declaring preliminary victories for Renamo that were later reversed. The country’s constitutional council, the highest body on constitutional and electoral law, ordered re-runs in a handful of areas. When protests broke out across the country, they were met with tear gas and, in some places, live ammunition.
This is the second in a three-part series about the failed promise of biometric technology in Africa, reported with the investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports. Read the first installment here: Uganda’s Sweeping Surveillance State Is Built on National ID Cards