Maputo, 7 Nov (AIM) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Monday urged that the Constitutional Council (CC), the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, must refuse to apply rules whose constitutionality is suspect in cases under trial.
According to Nyusi, who was speaking in Maputo, at a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Council and the opening of a seminar on African and Mozambican Constitutionalism, justice should not have solutions in advance.
“There can be no doubt that the main mission of this Council is to be the guardian of the Constitution. It means taking on the duty to watch over and respect the Constitution in all the exercises of our governance”, he said, stressing, however, that the Council cannot be expected to play its role alone.
According to the President, the Constitutional Council has no procedural initiative “because if it did, it would be conveying the idea that it was an interested party in the prevention and resolution of litigation.”
For her part, the chairperson of the Council, Lúcia Ribeiro, said that Mozambican constitutionalism is based on the principles of the rule of law – republican, unitary, democratic and social.
“The choice of this theme comes from the fact that constitutionalism on our continent has to contend with constraints of various kinds, whether political, cultural, social or otherwise”, she said.
Lúcia Ribeiro also explained that in the 2002 Constitution, the Council became a sovereign body, which is especially responsible for administering justice in matters of a legal-constitutional nature, controlling the constitutionality of laws and the illegality of normative acts, as well as judging appeals, electoral complaints, and validating and proclaiming electoral results.
(AIM)
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