The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) in Mozambique, headed by MEP Laura Ballarín Cereza, presented at a press conference today its Final Report on the 2024 General and Provincial Assembly Elections held on 9 October.

The report is based on two months of observation across the country and presents a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the electoral process. It also includes 18 recommendations aimed at strengthening and improving future electoral processes, in line with Mozambique’s international commitments on democratic elections.

EU EOM Chief Observer Laura Ballarín stated: “In the post-election period more than 300 people tragically died as a result of political violence. Both the Observation Mission and the European Union condemned the violence, as well as the murder of the two opposition advisers on 19 October, whose perpetrators have not yet been identified and brought to justice.”

In general, the Mission observed that the Mozambican electoral process had multiple flaws at various levels.

A total of 17,169,239 citizens were registered to vote, but the voter registration did not offer guarantees of integrity.

Election day took place peacefully, but the counting and tabulation of results were marred by anomalies and errors, as well as a serious lack of transparency, including the failure to publish the results broken down by polling station, which negatively affected public confidence in the election results.

The electoral management bodies failed to effectively supervise the process, especially when it came to thoroughly checking for irregularities, enforcing compliance with the legal framework, and guaranteeing the integrity of the ballot.

The report contains 18 recommendations, eight of which are considered as prioritised.

Review the structure, composition and selection process of the election administration at all levels to enhance professionalism, integrity, accountability and impartiality throughout all stages of the electoral process.

Review the electoral results management system to ensure an efficient, uniform, consistent and transparent process, including: a quick system to announce provisional progressive results broken down by polling station; and unambiguous procedures for rectifying errors and discrepancies in results protocols with clear criteria for the recount of ballots.

The CNE, take full responsibility for the integrity of the electoral process, by adopting measures to address the consequences of electoral offences and malpractices during voting, counting and tabulation of results to diminish their impact of the election results.

State authorities to protect fundamental freedoms, namely the right to freedom of assembly, access to information, and the conduct of peaceful manifestation and campaign activities in a safe environment, free from intimidation and violent acts against party members, supporters and journalists.

Review and harmonise electoral laws to grant legal certainty and remove contradictions.

Establish and maintain reliable and cost-effective mechanisms to update the voter register, for example by using other existing and reliable data sources, such as a revised civil registry.

Strengthen the legal framework and oversight for campaign finance from private sources. Measures could include accountability mechanisms to reduce the opportunities for illicit financing, and reasonable campaign expenditure limitations to ensure equal opportunity and transparency.

The process by which the Constitutional Council validates results to be detailed and with specific references to the normative provisions and criteria used to ground the decision.

Chief Observer Laura Ballarín added: “At a time when there is a general consensus on the need for electoral reforms, the EU EOM's recommendations can contribute to the ongoing political dialogue between the government, political parties and civil society”, and concluded: “The European Union remains committed to accompanying Mozambique on this path, in line with existing cooperation.”

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The EU EOM was deployed at the invitation of the Mozambican authorities and was present in the country from 1 September to 5 November 2024. The mission sent almost 180 international observers to all the country's provinces.

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The link to the PDF of this press release in Portuguese:

And in English:

Final Report of the European Union Election Observation Mission Mozambique 2024.

Portuguese version:

English version:

For more information, contact:

Alessandro Gori – Press Officer – MOE UE Moçambique 2024

Mobile: (+258) 86 668 9688 – email: [email protected]