7 September 2008
Maputo — The Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the electoral branch of the Mozambican civil service, on Saturday handed over to the National Elections Commission (CNE) all the nomination papers from the political parties, coalitions and independent citizens' groups who intend to contest the local elections, scheduled for 19 November.
The final date for delivering nomination papers was Friday. In all STAE received the paperwork for candidates proposed by nine political parties, three coalitions and six independent groups. But only the ruling Frelimo Party and the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, are contesting all 43 municipalities.
The STAE general director, Felisberto Naife, told reporters that the CNE must now check the authenticity of all the documents submitted by the candidates and their eligibility for election.
All candidates were required to submit a declaration accepting nomination, authenticated photocopies of their identity card, and of their voter's card (to prove that they are on the electoral register), their criminal record certificate, and a certificate from the local authorities confirming that they have lived in the municipality for at least six months.
In addition, candidates for mayor had to submit supporting signatures from at least one per cent of the municipal electorate. Now that the electoral register is fully computerized, it should be possible for the CNE to check the names and voter card numbers of these supporters to see if they are indeed registered voters.
If the CNE detects irregularities in the nomination papers, it must contact the candidate concerned who then has five days to correct them. Some parties already know their papers are irregular - they claim they were unable to obtain residence certificates or criminal record certificates before Friday, but will have them next week.
If the CNE finds that a candidate is not eligible to stand, it must contact the agent of the party or organisation concerned who can replace the candidate within three days.
The CNE says it hopes to publish a full list of candidates for the municipal elections on 20 September.
Meanwhile, in the central city of Beira, the current mayor, Daviz Simango, has launched his campaign to be re-elected, as an independent candidate. When he was first elected, in 2003, it was on the Renamo ticket - but on 28 August Renamo astonished the country (and Beira voters in particular) when it ditched Simango as its Beira candidate, replacing him with Renamo parliamentarian Manuel Pereira.
This looks set to backfire. On Friday, Simango addressed a rally attended by thousands of people at a Beira sports stadium, in which he claimed that he was the true Renamo candidate, and that "ambitious people have deceived our dear President Afonso Dhlakama" (the Renamo leader).
"The communists (i.e. Frelimo) know that they must first get rid of Daviz Simango, if they are to retake Beira", declared Simango - a barely veiled suggestion that the true beneficiary of the Renamo leadership's behaviour is the Frelimo candidate, Lourenco Bulha.
The Beira neighbourhood secretaries all seem to support the re-election of Simango, and several of them have given enthusiastic interviews to the private television station, STV. At neighbourhood level there is a fusion between city council functions and party functions, something which Renamo in Beira appears to have imitated from Frelimo - and which is now working in Simango's favour.
Meanwhile, the official Renamo Sofala provincial delegate, Fernando Mbararano, is threatening to sue the Simango supporters who seized control of the Renamo Beira offices on 28 August. They held the offices for a week, while Mbararano, and the Renamo Beira delegate, Faque Inacio, went into hiding.
But last Thursday, Mbararano called on the police to evict the Simango supporters. They did not put up a fight, and Mbararano and Inacio are back in control of the offices. Mbararano told reporters he will now start legal proceedings against those who occupied the Renamo delegation.
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