Maputo — Supporters of the mayor of the central Mozambican city of Beira, Daviz Simango, on Thursday registered him as an independent candidate for mayor in the November municipal elections.

A spokesperson for the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the electoral branch of the civil service, confirmed to AIM that Simango's name was registered on Thursday afternoon with the National Elections Commission (CNE). His supporters have resurrected the Group for Reflection and Change (GRM), which was the Beira citizens' group set up in 1998 by the former governor of Sofala province, Francisco Masquil, after he defected from the ruling Frelimo Party. The GRM ran Masquil as an independent candidate for mayor of Beira in the 1998 local elections (boycotted by most opposition parties) and picked up a respectable 41 per cent of the vote.

Simango's supporters say the number of Beira voters who have signed Simango's nomination now exceeds 11,000. Any candidate for mayor must provide supporting signatures from at least one per cent of the municipal electorate. In the case of Beira, that is 2,307 signatures - Simango now has around five times that figure.

Meanwhile the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, which shocked the country by dropping Simango as its candidate last Thursday, is running into serious difficulties in collecting enough signatures for the official Renamo candidate, Manuel Pereira.

Reports reaching AIM suggest that large numbers of Renamo members and supporters in Beira, who were not consulted about the change of candidate, are refusing to sign Pereira's nomination papers. A further headache is that all candidates for mayor must produce a certificate that they have lived in the municipality for the past six months. As a member of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, Pereira lives in Maputo, and might have some difficulty proving that he is also domiciled in Beira.

The body which should issue the residence certificate is Beira City Council. But, according to AIM's source, Pereira asked the Beira City Administrator (representing the central state) for his certificate. In the past, Renamo has argued that the City Administrator should not even exist, and was just a post invented by the Frelimo government to undermine a Renamo municipal council.

The Renamo leadership's campaign against Simango uses the claim that he is not a member of Renamo, and is working for the National Convention Party (PCN), one of the ten minor parties in the Renamo-Electoral Union coalition,. But Simango himself told the independent television station STV that he is a fully paid up member of Renamo. A few weeks ago, before the current crisis exploded, Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama said much the same thing, confirming to reporters that Simango does indeed hold a Renamo membership card.

The Renamo spokesperson in Beira, Geraldo Carvalho, who has joined the Simango camp, regards the chatter about the PCN as ridiculous. Cited on Friday in the pro-Renamo newsheet "Canal de Mocambique", Carvalho declared "Simango belongs to Renamo, not the PCN. The PCN doesn't exist any more. It's been absorbed into Renamo".

Simango insists that he is standing at the request of Renamo members in Beira, and so cannot be said to be running against Renamo. He says he supports the Renamo slate for the municipal assembly, and wants Renamo to renew its current absolute majority in the assembly.

On Thursday, the only organisations that delivered their nomination papers to STAE were the Maputo independent citizens group Juntos Pela Cidade (JPC - Together for the City), and the Ecologist Party (PEC). PEC is standing in only one municipality, the southern city of Matola. It is running its president, Joao Massango, for mayor, and a slate of candidates for the municipal assembly. PEC took 1.4 per cent of the Matola vote in the 2003 municipal elections, which was not enough to win a single seat.

Friday is the last day for parties and independent candidates to deliver their nomination papers. Anyone who does not deliver their papers by 15.30 on Friday will not be able to compete in the elections.