• The conduct of the police during elections was partisan. The opposition political parties accused the police of looking the other way when their candidates were being attacked or their campaigns disrupted. The police also allegedly assisted FRELIMO agents in perpetrating electoral malpractices. 8 • There were complaints that the registration of voters was not done transparently. Although no proof could be offered, it was claimed that voter registration was more efficiently carried out in areas where the govern ment had greater support, if figures were not outright inflated. In areas where the opposition had stronger support, the approach was lackadaisi cal, leading to poor registration figures. RENAMO organised protests in Beira and other affected areas in 1997 to protest against poorly held elections. 9 It has been reported that this complaint has been repeatedly made in Mozambique’s newspapers and was in fact raised at a roundtable held in Beira on 9 January 2008. 10 • Opposition spokespersons claimed that polling stations were located too far from voters in areas where they had the most support, but were more conveniently located in areas where the government enjoyed higher support. This was said to have been most prevalent in the rural areas, where it perhaps was unavoidable to provide site polling stations to serve a number of rural communities. • FRELIMO officials complained that the presence of armed RENAMO men during elections was menacing and a discouragement to their support ers turning out to vote in Sofala province. Opposition party officials, on the other hand, claimed that the police intimidated their members during elec tions and discouraged them from going to vote. RENAMO representatives in Sofala claimed that voters were transported from out of town to vote in the last municipal elections. • Counting and collation of votes was not done accurately because members of the STAE connived to inflate results. This allegation has a ring of truth to it, as international election observation missions (the European Union and Carter Centre) criticised the lack of transparency in the counting of ballots, even though they were satisfied with the general holding of the elections. 11 Indeed, the CNE did not inspire confidence in the accuracy of vote counts when, within one week, it issued three different results for the 2003 local elections. 12 8 Ibid. 9 EISA (2005:21). 10 Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA). 2009. Mozambique: Democracy and political participation. AfriMAP report. Johannesburg: OSISA, page 64 (footnote 175). 11 EISA (2005:11). 12 Ibid. 115