Venâncio Mondlane. Foto de Carlos Júnior
Maputo, 16 Jul (AIM) – The Constitutional Council (CC), Mozambique’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, has declined to hear an appeal from former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, in which he claimed that the Justice Ministry has exceeded the legal deadline for reviewing his party’s application for registration.
According to Mondlane, in his Facebook account, the appeal was submitted to the Council on 4 July because the Justice Ministry had exceeded the deadline for the registration of ANAMALALA (National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique).
He explained that his political movement filed the application for the constitution of ANAMALALA with the Justice Ministry on 3 April, following a request to “rectify irregularities identified in the registration process.”
The latest information from the Ministry was on 6 June, and Mondlane argues that the ministry’s silence since then means that the new party must be accepted, and its statutes published in the official gazette, the “Boletim da Republica”.
But the Constitutional Council simply refused to hear Mondlane’s appeal, on the grounds that the Justice Ministry was still within the deadline for taking its final decision. In a ruling written in tortuous legalese, the Council claimed that the need to request further details implies the suspension of the legal deadline for issuing the opinion, which is up to 60 days, the countdown of which “restarts”.
“In other words, it starts counting from 6 June 2025, which means that the Justice Ministry is within the period in which it has the power to decide on the appeal. Under the principle of separation of powers, this Council will respect the powers of another State body and await its decision”.
The Council claims that the lack of response from the Ministry does not constitute a tacit rejection of the party’s request for legalization “as Mondlane claims, because the deadline for consideration is still running.”
(AIM)
Ad/pf (319)
