Frelimo submits draft amendment to change Constitution, postpone district elections | Mozambique

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Frelimo submits draft amendment to change Constitution, postpone district elections | Mozambique

6:55 CAT | 04 May 2023

Photo: Domingo

The ruling party of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), yesterday submitted to Parliament a proposal contested by the opposition for a specific revision of the Constitution, to postpone the country’s first district elections.

The draft constitutional amendment was already expected, in line with statements by the bench itself and by the Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, who has questioned the administrative and financial feasibility of deepening decentralization.

The election of Provincial Governors in 2019 and of District Administrators – so far figures appointed by central power – in 2024 was enshrined in the Constitution in 2018 as a counterpart to the demobilization of the armed wing of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party, which aimed to win the ballot in some regions.

But the difficulties of managing decentralization in the provinces – even after Frelimo had elected all the provincial governors – is one of the ruling party’s arguments for postponing the district elections.

“We have the issue of leadership conflict” and “complexity of competences”, said Feliz Sílvia, spokesman for the Frelimo bench.

“Right now, we are only punctually revising the Constitution to postpone the [district] elections so that they can be held when the conditions are created”, Feliz Sílvia underlined.

The constitutional amendment proposal comes after the Government created a Commission to study the issue and which last week also defended the postponement – under protest from Renamo and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) who accuse the Commission of being linked to the interests of the executive and the party that supports it.

Even before this Commission was created, the two opposition parties even boycotted a meeting in the hemicycle, in March: “Down with the dictatorship” and “Do not kill democracy” were some of the posters raised by the Renamo bench, while the deputies of the MDM left the room “to signal that democracy is in danger”.

At the time spokesman for the MDM bench, Fernando Bismarque, went as far as saying that changing the Constitution could also “make a third presidential term” viable, but Feliz Sílvia yesterday ruled out that scenario.

“At no time did we talk about this issue of the third [presidential] term”, said the Frelimo parliamentary bench spokesman.

The debate on the draft amendment of the Constitution, yesterday deposited by Frelimo in the Assembly of the Republic, awaits scheduling.

Mozambique enters a new electoral cycle this year, with municipal elections on October 11 and general elections in 2024.

Frelimo dominates the Assembly of the Republic with a qualified majority of 184 deputies, followed by Renamo with 60 seats and MDM with six seats.

Source: Lusa