Mozambique: No parliament action on provincial elections – Hanlon

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Mozambique: No parliament action on provincial elections – Hanlon

10:03 CAT | 18 Oct 2018

No legislation on next year’s elections nor on provincial decentralisation will be considered by parliament at its session which opens tomorrow, Thursday 18 October, according to the 32-point agenda. The final point on the agenda is amendments to the central government oversight (“tutela administrativa”) of municipal governments, which must be rushed through in this session before the newly elected municipal assemblies and mayors take office.

A large legislative package is needed for the provinces. For the elections, it has been agreed that the governor will be the head of list of the largest party in the provincial assembly. But there is no single list – party lists are by district (so that provincial legislators have a genuine local base). So a law must be passed to deal with this, probably by creating an additional province-wide list. But leaving this until next year gives the parties little time to plan.

Also, governors have quite wide and ill-defined powers. By contrast, local government has detailed legislation setting out powers and responsibilities. The late Afonso Dhlakama originally proposed that local government legislation be applied to provinces as well. Government and Frelimo vehemently denied this was possible, but this is surely the format that will be used.

Source: 2018 Local Elections - Mozambique Political Process Bulletin