Mozambique: Former Nigeria president to head AU election observation mission

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Mozambique: Former Nigeria president to head AU election observation mission

8:40 CAT | 14 Oct 2019

Image: Noticias nas Acacias, Facebook

A former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, is to head a 44-member African Union election observation mission to Mozambique for the coming general elections, the institution announced on Friday.

“On the eve of the presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections scheduled for October 15th in the Republic of Mozambique, the President of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has approved the sending of 40 short-term observers and four electoral experts until the conclusion of the electoral process, following an invitation from the Government of Mozambique,” reads a statement on the African Union website.

“The short-term observation mission will be led by Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” it continues, adding that the 44-member delegation “include ambassadors of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the African Union, deputies of the Pan-African Parliament, electoral managers, civil society, media organs and electoral experts.

“At the end of the electoral process and the vote count, the African Union Observation Mission will issue a preliminary communiqué with its main conclusions and observations,” the statement adds.

On 15 October some 12.9 million Mozambicans are eligible to vote to choose the country’s president, 10 provincial assemblies and respective governors, and the 250 members of the national parliament. This will be the first time that provincial governors will be elected – instead of appointed by the president – a longstanding demand of the main opposition party, Renamo.

The change comes under an agreement reached between the current president, Filipe Nyusi, and Renamo’s late leader, Afonso Dhlakama. He died on 3 May last year and these will be the country’s first elections without him.

Based on the consensus he reached with Nyusi, a peace agreement was signed by the president and Renamo’s new leader, Ossufo Momade, on 6 August.

Source: Lusa