Extraordinary sitting of Parliament fixed to amend electoral law

Maputo, 16 Jan (AIM) – The Standing Commission of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Monday decided to call an extraordinary sitting of the Assembly for 24 January, with the sole purpose of amending the electoral law.

The spokesperson for the Standing Commission. Alberto Matukutuku, told reporters at the end of the meeting that the amendments will make it possible to alter the dates for this year’s voter registration, set by the National Elections Commission (CNE) for 1 February to 16 March.

But February is in the middle of the Mozambican rainy season. Roads in parts of the country are likely to be impassable, making it difficult or impossible to transport equipment to voter registration posts in remote areas.

“The amendment proposed”, said Matukutuku, “is intended to allow the relevant authorities to change the dates for registration to a period outside the rainy season”.

All the political parties represented in the Assembly – the ruling Frelimo Party and the two opposition forces, Renamo, and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) – agree that it is impractical to hold voter registration during the rains.

The proposal for an extraordinary sitting of the Assembly came from Frelimo, which submitted a detailed bill on the matter last Thursday.

According to the bulletin on the elections published by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), the CNE has an alternative calendar in mind, in which voter registration will start on 16 March. The Frelimo proposal would fix 7 May as the date for the end of registration.

According to the CIP summary, other key changes proposed by Frelimo are that the CNE must announce the number of seats in each constituency by 5 June, instead of 12 April, and all candidates must submit their nomination papers by 25 June.

The number of seats depends on the number of registered voters in each constituency. For the parliamentary elections, each province is a constituency, while for the election of the provincial assemblies, each district is a constituency.

All candidates must submit authenticated photocopies of their identity document and their voter card, and their criminal record certificate. According to CIP, under the Frelimo proposal the time for candidates to obtain these documents has been cut from two months to just three weeks, even though it is notoriously difficult to acquire a criminal record certificate in less than a month, particularly in rural areas.

(AIM)

Pf/ (408)