5 May 2008
Maputo — The Mozambican government announced on Monday that the country's third municipal elections will be held on 9 November.
The last local elections were held in 2003 in all 23 urban areas with the status of cities and in ten towns (one per province). A law passed last months has granted a further ten towns municipal status, and so the November elections will be held in 43 cities and towns.
The elections will be preceded by a further round of voter registration, in the two months between 6 July and 4 August. The main purpose of this is to register voters who have reached the voting age of 18 this year, but it will also allow anybody who, for whatever reason, was not covered by the complete re-registration of the electorate between September and March, to register.
These extra two months of registration should be particularly useful for people who were obliged to move their home because of the flooding in central Mozambique in January and February, and those who lost their voting cards because of the floods, or because of cyclone Jokwe that hit Nampula province in early March.
The first municipal elections, held in 1998, were boycotted by most opposition parties, and so the ruling Frelimo Party won in all 33 municipalities. The opposition did participate in the second elections, in 2003, but Frelimo candidates were elected mayor in 28 of the municipalities, and the main opposition force, the Renamo-Electoral Union coalition, only won in the remaining five.
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