Maputo — Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party on Thursday submitted a request for a special session of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, to amend the electoral legislation, so that the date for this year's voter registration can be changed.
The National Elections Commission (CNE) proposed that voter registration, ahead of the presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for 9 October, should begin on 1 February.
But this is wildly impractical, since1 February is in the middle of the Mozambican rainy season. Indeed, February is often the wettest month of the year.
Roads are likely to be impassable in parts of the country, making it impossible to transport registration equipment to remote areas. Since many potential voters will not want to wait for hours in the rain at registration posts, registration in February could well depress voter turnout.
The CNE is reported to have an alternative calendar in mind, in which voter registration will start on 16 March. The Frelimo proposal would fix 7 May as the date for the end of registration.
All political parties agree that registration cannot take place in the rain - but changing this date implies a cascade of other changes, some of which are not likely to be consensual.
According to the latest issue of the bulletin on the elections, published by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), the key changes proposed by Frelimo are that the CNE must announce the number of seats in each constituency by 5 June, instead of 12 April, and all candidate must submit their nomination papers by 25 June.
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The number of seats depends on the number of registered voters in each constituency. For the parliamentary elections, each province is a constituency, while for the election of the provincial assemblies, each district is a constituency.
The current date for parliamentary candidates to submit their papers is 5 June, and so the Frelimo proposal gives them an extra three weeks to put their papers in order. But for provincial assembly candidates, 25 June is much earlier than the current date of 11 July.
All candidates must submit authenticated photocopies of their identity document and their voter card, and their criminal record certificate. According to CIP, under the Frelimo proposal the time for candidates to obtain these documents has been cut from two months to just three weeks, even though it is notoriously difficult to acquire a criminal record certificate in less than a month, particularly in rural areas.
