EU still barred from final count in December elections

With less than a month to go before general elections in Mozambique, European Union observers have yet to gain full access to the final vote count. While election monitors may be present at counting stations at the local level, the National Election Commission (CNE) has said they would be excluded from the final provincial and national stages of the tally. There are concerns that the failure to open the one remaining part of the counting process in the upcoming vote could affect the credibility of the entire election process, however, the European Union Election Observer Mission (EU EOM) on Monday remained optimistic about ongoing negotiations with the CNE. "So far we have not managed to reach an agreement, but the dialogue has been civil and cooperative. We still have time to get the results we want, and hope that we [EU] and the CNE can resolve this issue," EU EOM spokesman, Andrea Malnati, told IRIN. Malnati said the head of the mission, Javier Pomes, had met with CNE President, Arao Litsuri, on Monday to reiterate the "vital importance" of allowing observers "complete" access to the counting process at provincial and central levels. The CNE has argued that the country's electoral laws prohibited the inclusion of monitors during the final deliberations, but analysts point out that the electoral law does not mention the issue. The EU mission includes about 90 members and is anticipated to cost about 2.5 million US dollars, made available from the European Commission's Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights. It is thought that the December 1-2 vote, the country's third since independence in 1975, would consolidate democracy in the southern African country.