Maputo — Reports from AIM correspondents in central Mozambique suggest that all the conditions are in place for successful general and provincial elections on Wednesday.

In Beira, the director of the Sofala provincial branch of the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), Celso Sousa, told reporters on Tuesday that most of the election materials had already been distributed to the polling station sites.

In Beira itself, the materials were taken to the stations in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

"There are no materials left in the warehouses because they're being distributed", said Sousa. "We've already distributed material to 660 polling stations, and the material is on its way to the other 342".

"All the material will be at the polling stations on time, even if we have to work during the small hours of the morning", he pledged.

He was sure that all the polling stations would open on time, at 07.00, "because we have already distributed the materials to the areas where access is difficult".

STAE used a helicopter to distribute the material to remote parts of Marromeu, Buzi, Chibabava, Gorongosa and Machanga districts. To reach the polling stations accessible overland, STAE used a fleet of 83 vehicles, some belonging to the local governments, and others hired

Sousa said that, if necessary, voting can continue into Wednesday night, because all the stations have battery powered lamps. There were also enough police available to protect all the stations.

Similarly, in Quelimane, capital of Zambezia province, the electoral bodies have assured journalists that everything was ready to ensure that the voting takes place successfully in all districts.

The chairperson of the Zambezia Provincial Elections Commission (CPE), Egidio Morais, said that supervision of all the polling station sites indicated that all are in a condition to open on Wednesday morning.