Mozambicans In Diaspora Want To Vote
Maputo, 22 Dec (AIM) – Representatives of Mozambicans living abroad on Wednesday asked for the right to vote in the country’s forthcoming general elections.
The wish was expressed in a message by Guilhermina Noronha, who lives in Rwanda, during a reception offered by Nyusi to representatives from the diaspora. This is a traditional event in the Mozambican calendar, but was suspended in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mozambicans abroad can vote in Presidential and parliamentary elections, but only if they live in certain countries – South Africa, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Portugal and Germany.
These are the countries with large enough Mozambican communities to make it feasible to establish polling stations and the rest of the electoral machinery.
In response to Noronha, Nyusi said that Mozambicans in the diaspora will be able to participate, but pointed out as an obstacle the logistics needed to conduct the process due to dispersion in various countries around the world.
Nyusi said “I hope that at any moment we will be able to vote in more countries; the problem is the logistics for people who are scattered”.
Regarding the destruction caused by the natural disasters that have struck some regions of the country, Nyusi thanked the communities abroad for their readiness and solidarity in providing aid to those affected.
“Our diaspora has been very sensitive with natural disasters, where people suffer and lose everything they have, and on the part of the diaspora there has been not only moral but also material solidarity”, he said.
Regarding the terrorism that has been plaguing parts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado since 2017, Nyusi announced that on Tuesday the Mozambique Defence and Security Forces and their Rwandan allies repelled an attempted attack against the administrative post of Chai, in Macomia district.
“The terrorists were not successful, and they are being pursued”, said the President, “and I hope that by the end of the day our young people in the military will report back. They report to me with pride the results they have”.
(AIM)
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