8 October 2007
Maputo — The chairperson of Mozambique's National Elections Commission (CNE), Joao Leopoldo da Costa, on Monday promised to do all in his power to respond to the concerns of political parties about their candidatures for the elections of provincial assemblies, scheduled for 16 January.
He was speaking in Maputo at a meeting with representatives of political parties, held to present the timetable for the election preparations.
This states that all candidates for the elections must present their nomination papers by 17 October - in just nine days time.
Also on 17 October, the CNE should publish a provisional list of how many members will sit in each provincial assembly.
It can only be provisional, because the number of members in an assembly depends on the nuber of registered voters in that province, which will not be known until the end of the current voter registration exercise on 22 November.
Once the lists o candidates have been received, the CNE has 24 hours (i.e. by 19 October) to check the legality of the names, acronyms and symbols of the various competing parties, coalitions, and citizens' groups.
The CNE must also check the validity of the nomination papers of each and every candidate. If the paperwork contains any irregularities, the election agent of the list concerned has five days to correct the problem. If any candidate is ineligible to stand, the agent is informed, and has two days to replace the candidate.
The final list of valid candidates must be made public by the CNE by 9 November.
Da Costa assured his audience that "the CNE is not at the service of any political party, but of all those who are committed to participating in these and future elections".
The party representatives immediately protested at the diffculty in obtaining some of the documents necessary for nomination papers - notably the certificate of no criminal record, and a certificate of residence issued by the local authorities (proving that the candidate resides in the province where he is standing).
They also took the opportunity to point out that although voter registration was supposed to start simultaneously all over the country on 24 September, in fact there are some districts where it has yet to begin.
Raul Domingos, president of the country's third largest party, the PDD (Party of Peace, Development and Democracy), queried the wisdom of holding elections in January, in the middle of the rainy season.
Da Costa said the CNE will do all in its power to ease the formalisation of candidates' nomination papers. By way of example, he said that perhaps candidates need not apply for a cerificate of residence, if they already had a voter's card. They could append a copy of the card, since this declares where they live.
But he was cautious enough to add that this way out "still has to be confirmed" - in other words, it is da Costa's idea, and has yet to be approved by the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.
The idea is sensible, but the existing law states that the candidates must prove they have lived in the province for at least six months, and the voter's card is not sufficient for this.
The CNE wants the law to be amended, making it easier for the candidates. These amendments are due to be discussed by the Assembly on Thursday.
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