Frelimo Will Amend the Constitution Between June and August to Eliminate District Elections
It's decided. As from June, Frelimo will amend the Constitution. On Wednesday of parliament approved the amendment to the Electoral Law, which reduces the deadline for announcing the date of the 2024 general elections from 18 to 14 months before the elections. This has removed all doubts, and confirmed what the CIP Elections Bulletin had already announced: there will be no district elections in 2024.
Up until the beginning of this Wednesday's plenary session of the Assembly of the Republic, the Frelimo proposal was to reduce the deadline for announcing the date of general elections by three months. But on the same day, after the opinion of the Fourth Commission for the second reading of the Frelimo bill, an extra month was added. The 4th Commission remitted the document to the secretariat at 13.37 for appreciation and approval in the second reading.
Frelimo argues that the decision meets the concerns of various segments of Mozambican society – namely politicians, religious organisations, academics, journalists, civil society organisations and other forces, with regard to the opportunity, advantages and disadvantages of holding elections in the districts. These segments, according to Frelimo, argue that the State always follows, in a secure manner, the principle of gradualism. That is, the amendment of Law 8/2013 will allow a broader consultation of various opinions about "the opportunity and pertinence" of holding, or not holding, district elections next year.
The amendment will allow Frelimo to gain time until it is legally possible to change the Constitution without needing support from the opposition. The Constitution can only be amended within five years after the previous amendment came into force with a vote of ¾ of the parliament, which would require opposition support because the last amendment was on 12 June 2018 (article 301 of the Constitution of the Republic). After 12 June this year, Frelimo alone can alter the Constitution, by using a 2/3 majority of the deputies, without needing opposition support.
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Hence, with the reduction in the deadline for fixing the date of the presidential and parliamentary elections, and the elections of the provincial assemblies and the provincial governors, Frelimo wins four months to propose, debate and approve the amendment to the Constitution of the Republic, which will allow the President of the Republic to fix, without pressure, the date of next year's general elections without district elections.
The CNE had already approved a proposal that the President of the Republic announce, on 8 April this year, the date of 9 October 2024 for holding the general elections. But with the amendment of the Electoral Law, the CNE proposal will become null and void, which means that the CNE will have to wait for the constitutional amendment, as from 13 June this year, to propose a new date for the presidential announcement. It is most likely that the proposal of 9 October will remain the date of the elections. In this case, the CNE should propose to the President that he announce, on 8 August this year, the date of 9 October 2024 as the date of the general elections.
