Mozambique: 26 Boxes of Ballot Papers Stolen

Photo: Verdade

A Frelimo Party campaign vehicle (file photo).

Maputo — Unknown thieves have stolen 26 boxes of ballot papers intended for use in the central Mozambican province of Zambezia in the provincial assembly elections scheduled for 15 October.
The spokesperson for the National Elections Commission (CNE), Paulo Cuinica, told AIM that the boxes were taken from a container on board a truck hired to take the ballot papers from Maputo to Zambezia.
The theft is believed to have occurred sometime on Thursday night or early Friday morning in Manica province, perhaps at the Inchope crossroads.
The driver of the truck and the two
policemen accompanying the materials are currently under detention in the Manica provincial capital, Chimoio.
Cuinica said the matter is now under investigation by the police and the public prosecutor's office has been notified.
25 of the stolen boxes were carrying ballot papers to Pebane district, and one contained material intended for Namacurra.
Felisberto Naife, director of the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the CNE's executive body, told AIM that STAE has ordered replacement ballot papers. The papers are printed in South Africa, but there is still plenty of time for them to arrive in Zambezia before polling day.
Naife was confident that the stolen ballot papers cannot be used on 15 October. This is because the serial numbers on the ballot papers act as a security check. Any ballot papers with the wrong serial numbers will be rejected during the count at the polling stations.