
Maputo, 18 Aug (AIM) – Mozambique’s National Elections Commission (CNE) on Friday announced that it has approved lists of candidates from ten political parties, three coalitions of small parties and eight independent groups of citizens, to compete in the municipal elections scheduled for 11 October.
The 21 proponents in the 65 municipalities submitted 249 lists of candidates to the CNE, which had to inspect and check the authenticity of 69,432 documents. There are a total of 11,567 candidates. 7,775 of them are men and 3,792 are women.
Only the three parties represented in parliament – the ruling Frelimo Party and the two main opposition forces, Renamo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) – are standing candidates in all 65 municipalities.
None of the minor parties come anywhere near this. New Democracy (ND) is standing in 14 municipalities, and the Action Party of the United Movement for All-Round Salvation (AMUSI) is standing in six. The Democratic Alliance coalition is also running candidates in six municipalities. No other party or coalition is standing in more than three.
As for the independent citizens’ groups, the Association of Informal Workers of Mozambique (ASTIMO) is standing in four municipalities (Maputo, Matola, Marracuene and Beira), while the Association for Child and Youth Development in the Community (ACRIAJUDA) is standing in Beira and Quelimane.
The other citizen’s groups are ADEMO (Beira) – Association of Mozambican Disabled People; ANAJD (Matola) – National Association of Assistance to Juvenile Delinquents; ASO (Nacala) – Olompa Association; CIDADÃOS (Quelimane) – Citizens of Mozambique Association; UMODJA (Mocimboa da Praia) – Association of Natives and Friends of Mocímboa da Praia; and KÓXUKHURO (Nampula) – Friends of Amurrane Association for a Better Mozambique.
Koxukhuro takes its name from Mahamudo Amurrane, the popular Mayor of Nampula, who was murdered in 2017. It remains to be seen whether the association can capitalize on his name.
As usual, Maputo will have the most crowded ballot paper, with 12 lists standing in the capital, followed by Nampula (eight), Nacala (eight), and Matola (seven).
(AIM)
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