Little hope for Manuel de Araujo – Hanlon

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Little hope for Manuel de Araujo – Hanlon

5:32 CAT | 04 Sep 2018

File photo: DW

There is little chance that Manuel de Araujo will be able to stand again for mayor of Quelimane, this time as head of the Renamo list.

The local authorities law (7/97) says mayors cannot change parties, and if a mayor joins a different party or stands of a different list from the one on which they were elected, they lose their post. The same law says that a person cannot stand in the next election for a post they have lost in the previous term. Araujo had been in Renamo, but was elected Mayor of Quelimane for MDM. But he was attempting to stand now as head of the Renamo list.

The Council of Ministers ruled last week that he had therefore lost his post as mayor. Any appeal would be to the Administrative Tribunal, and he has until 18 September to appeal.

His appeal will be based on fairness, and that he had a right to be heard by the Council of Ministers before he was removed. The response is that a hearing was unnecessary, as the position is clear as he is named as head of the official and approved Renamo list.

It has been noted that the Council of Ministers did not take a similar action against Daviz Simango in 2008 when he stood for mayor of Beira after being excluded by Afonso Dhlakama as Renamo mayoral candidate. But there are key legal differences. Simango had been elected in 2003 for a coalition, Renamo Uniao Eleitoral (Renamo-UE), which by 2008 had been dissolved. And Simango stood as an independent, not for a party. Thus his action did not violate the law.

By Joseph Hanlon

Source: Mozambique Political Process Bulletin