All eyes on what may be Mozambique’s last direct election of a mayor

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All eyes on what may be Mozambique’s last direct election of a mayor

1:09 CAT | 14 Mar 2018

DW (File photo) / Nampula city, capital of Nampula province

With today’s second round of the by-election in Nampula, the country’s third-largest urban area, 1,500 kilometres north of the capital, Mozambique may be well be watching its last direct and autonomous vote for a mayor.

The parliament is discussing a proposal from President Filipe Nyusi to change the constitution and choose mayors from the list voted for the municipal assembly.

The proposal forms part of the peace negotiations with Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), which foresees central government ceasing to indicate provincial and district governors, who would instead be selected their respective assemblies, a procedure to be extended to the municipalities as well.

Amisse Cololo, candidate for the Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo), the ruling party since independence in 1975, and Paulo Vahanle for Renamo, the main opposition party, may be the last candidates in a municipal election as Mozambicans know them.

Whoever wins will enjoy a short mandate, however, as local elections across the country are scheduled for October 10 across the country, by which time the head of state and the opposition leader hope to have the new constitutional provisions in place.

Meanwhile, this Wednesday, about 300,000 voters are eligible to vote in a by-election triggered by the homicide of the mayor, Mahamudo Amurane, shot dead at point-blank range in October 2017, and a crime still under investigation.

Still no suspects in murder of Mahamudo Amurane

Man who defied his destiny assassinated on the Day of Peace – @Verdade

In the first round of polling, held on January 24, no-one obtained more than half of the votes, requiring a second-round run-off between the two most popular candidates – Cololo with 44.51 percent and Vahanle with 40.32 percent.

The Public Integrity Centre (CIP), a Mozambican civil society organisation, says it felt that the problems around the electoral rolls that overshadowed the first round were being resolved by technicians from the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) appointed by the political parties.

“The STAE will have a technician with a laptop on duty at every polling station to help voters who have lost their voter card to find their polling station,” the CIP announced on Monday in a bulletin.

Additionally, more vehicles have been allocated for the transport of voting material in order to avoid the delays in delivery that characterised the first round and which led to many polling stations opening after the scheduled 7:00 a.m. starting time.

No período da manhã assistiu-se a uma considerável afluência as mesas de votação. No período da tarde, a situação é contrária. Um grande número de mesas encontra-se vazias. #NampulaDecide pic.twitter.com/XNTEiFbHiV

— Ntatenda (@ntatendana) March 14, 2018

Thanks @HCJKuenssberg
Voting underway. Good to see people’s civic commitment in #Nampula #ElectionDay. @VegadBhavna @HenryKenrick @DFID_Moz pic.twitter.com/FEtW8GiOMC

— UK in Mozambique (@UKinMozambique) March 14, 2018

A Escola Primária dos Limoeiros possui 13 mesas de voto. Todas as mesas abriram pontualmente as 07:00 e o processo está a decorrer com a normalidade. As forças de Defesa e Segurança encontram-se no local e posicionados a 300 metros das mesas, conforme prevê a lei. #NampulaDecide pic.twitter.com/VT6s7AV9Uj

— Ntatenda (@ntatendana) March 14, 2018

Source: Lusa