Presidential candidate not on Frelimo central committee agenda

Maputo, 19 Mar (AIM) – Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party has called a meeting of its Central Committee for early April, but, contrary to expectations, the choice of the Frelimo candidate for the presidential election scheduled for 9 October is not on the agenda.

Speaking to reporters in the northern city of Nampula, the General Secretary of the Association of Veterans of the National Liberation Struggle (ACLLN), Fernando Faustino, declared “As far as I know, the Central Committee will meet on 5 and 6 April. It already has an agenda for the meeting, and the question of the succession or of presidential candidates is not on the agenda”.

Asked by the independent daily “O Pais” what he regarded as the ideal profile for the next President of the Republic, Faustino replied “we want a person who embraces Mozambique, a capable person, a person who has the development of this country among his objectives”.

That person, he added, must “have the certainty that we do indeed want to get out of the situation in which we find ourselves, and out of the difficulties that we now have. So a capable and competent person who has shown his concern for the welfare of the Mozambican people in his daily life”.

Among the members of Frelimo, Faustino said, “there are plenty of cadres and we shall find somebody capable of leading this country”.

Asked about the delay in choosing the candidate, Faustino dismissed this concern. “Delay in relation to what?”, he asked. “We are following the calendar”.

But he admitted that “Frelimo has to organize itself better, because it’s not something easy. We have to find a better candidate who meets the longings of the Mozambican people”.

He denied that ACLLN itself will put forward a candidate. Under the Frelimo statutes, it is the members of the Central Committee who choose the candidate, and not the Party’s social organisations, such as ACLLN.

Faustino said he is in Nampula as the head of the Frelimo central brigade assisting the province in the preparations for the October elections, and he will inaugurate a provincial Elections Preparations Office.

It now seems that Frelimo will not announce its candidate until early May, leaving only five months before the election. The only certainty is that there will be no third term of office for the current President, Filipe Nyusi.

There had been much speculation about this possibility, but it would require an amendment to the Constitution, which states that no person may hold more than two successive five year terms of office as President. Nyusi himself never said anything in public about the possibility of a third term.

(AIM)

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