Mozambique: Municipal Elections budgeted at over 100 million dollars – AIM report

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Mozambique: Municipal Elections budgeted at over 100 million dollars – AIM report

7:09 CAT | 28 Mar 2022

FILE PHOTO - For illustration purposes only.[File photo: DW]

Mozambique’s National Elections Commission (CNE) on Friday in Maputo said that the country’s sixth municipal elections, scheduled for 11 October 2023 in all 53 municipalities, will cost 9.7 billion meticais (over 100 million US dollars, at the current exchange rate).

Addressing a press conference to outline the wide range of activities to be carried out by the electoral body up until polling day, CNE spokesperson Paulo Cuinica told reporters that the process will cost nearly 10 billion meticais, which will be disbursed by the State Budget.

“Regarding the election cost, for the activities scheduled for 2022 we will spend 3.2 billion meticais, and next year the budget will reach 6.5 billion. That will be 9.7 billion meticais altogether to cover the expenses of the whole process,” Cuinica stated, adding that CNE wants to ensure that the polls are held in every municipality in spite of the situation the country is going through, especially in Cabo Delgado province, where ISIS terrorists remain active.

Only one municipality, Mocimboa da Praia, is in a war zone. Mocimboa da Praia municipality was under terrorist control for about a year, before the Mozambican defence and security forces and their Rwandan allies recaptured the town in August 2021. Most of the people who live in this municipality have yet to return, and this alone must cast doubt on whether it is possible to hold credible elections there in 2023.

Within the next 60 days, Cuinica said, the CNE will set up its support bodies such as the provincial electoral commissions, followed by district commissions.

The CNE will also draw up the time frame for voter registration and the proposal will be delivered to the Council of Ministers, which will publicly announce the dates for registration.

As for the inspection and observation of the polls, the CNE will accredit the election agents of the political parties, national and international observers as well as journalists who will follow the whole process until the proclamation and validation of the results by the Constitutional Council, the country’s supreme body in electoral law.

Thus, Cuinica urged the political parties to submit in due time the requests for accreditation of their representatives. The requests must be submitted at least 30 days ahead of the start of voter registration. Each political party is entitled to request accreditation for two representatives and one alternate for every registration station.

The old voter registration cards will no longer be valid. One of the peculiarities of the Mozambican system is that the entire electorate is re-registered every five years. The voters in the 53 municipalities will be registered prior to the October 2023 municipal elections, followed by the registration of voters in the rest of the country ahead of the presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections, scheduled for October 2024.

Cuinica said the CNE will carry out capacity building for the voter registration staff followed by their deployment, with the registration material, at the sites where the registration will take place.

Source: AIM