Mozambique Elections: New mayors to take office on February 7th

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Mozambique Elections: New mayors to take office on February 7th

7:10 CAT | 18 Jan 2024

File photo: Lusa

The Mozambican National Elections Commission (CNE) has proposed for February 7th the inauguration of the mayors of the 65 municipalities elected in the sixth municipal elections, of last October and December, 60 of which will be led by Frelimo.

According to CNE deliberation no. 2/202y, to which Lusa had access on Wednesday, the proposed date, the same for all municipalities, is for the investiture of the members of the Municipal Assemblies and the president of the Municipal Council elected in the 65 municipalities in the October 11th vote, repeated due to irregularities in four municipalities by order of the Constitutional Council (CC) on December 10th.

The Mozambican CC proclaimed, on 24 November, the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) the winner of the municipal elections on 11 October in 56 municipalities, against the previous 64 announced by the CNE, but ordered elections to be repeated in another four, in a process strongly contested by the opposition, civil society and non-governmental organizations.

The repetition of the vote took place on December 10th in 18 tables in Nacala-Porto (Nampula province), three in Milange and 13 in Gurúè (Zambézia) and in all 41 tables in Marromeu (Sofala), plus four municipalities in which the electoral process was not validated by the CC due to irregularities, and gave Frelimo victory in all cases.

In these sixth local elections, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM, the second largest opposition party) managed to maintain its leadership in the city of Beira. The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, the largest opposition party), officially won in four, despite contesting the remaining results, alleging “mega-electoral fraud” and claiming victory in the country’s largest cities, half of the numbers it had in the previous term (eight).

The inauguration of the elected mayors in 2023 follows several weeks of protest and almost daily demonstrations across the country against the electoral results, including the filing, mainly by Renamo, of several appeals, in different bodies, without any effect to date.

Some district courts, including in Maputo, even ordered the elections to be repeated a few days after the vote, detecting irregularities between the minutes and notices compiled immediately after the count and the documents used by the CNE, but these decisions were reversed by the CC.

The Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) demanded the resignation of the president of the CNE and his entire staff, alleging “prior agreement to rig the results” of the local elections.

“We understand that the president of the National Elections Commission and his entire team do not have the conditions to remain in office, after all this imbroglio that has been unleashed and which has received so little favour from society, especially because the popular will and electoral transparency are not tradable,” the OAM said in a statement in October.

In these elections, the population was called to vote for the first time to choose their local elected representatives – who will also take office in February – in the town of Marracuene and the administrative post of Matola-Rio (Maputo province), Massingir (Gaza), Homoíne (Inhambane), Caia (Sofala), Guro (Manica), Morrumbala (Zambézia), Mossuril (Nampula), the towns of Ibo and Balama (Cabo Delgado), the headquarters of the Administrative Post of Mecanhelas (Niassa) and of the Administrative Post of Chitima (Tete).

Source: Lusa