Maputo — The 2003 municipal elections will cost around 25 million US dollars, according to the latest estimates from the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the electoral branch of the Mozambican civil service.
Interviewed in Wednesday's issue of the daily paper "Noticias", STAE general director Antonio Carrasco said this sum covers updating the electoral registers, voter education, the training of electoral staff, and the materials and logistics for the voting itself.
He stressed that this budget is based on an assumption that no new municipalities will be created, and that the elections will only take place in the 33 cities and towns that already have the status of local authorities.
He warned that the budget does not yet include any funds for a second round of voting. Second rounds will be necessary in any municipality where no candidate for mayor wins over 50 per cent of the vote on the first round.
This did not happen in the first municipal elections, in 1998, because most opposition parties boycotted the polls. This time the opposition has announced its intention to compete, and there could well be municipalities with three or more serious candidates for mayor.
Carrasco said the municipal elections will have to be held in the second half of 2003. During the first six months, staff will be trained, first for updating the electoral registers, and then for manning the polling stations. He estimated the total number of electoral staff involved at 70,000.
STAE has drawn up a detailed timetable for the electoral preparations - but cannot implement it without the go-ahead of the National Elections Commission (CNE), the political body that is in overall charge of elections.
"We are waiting for the CNE to start working", said Carrasco. "We have our entire strategy for organising the elections drawn up. Our plan of activities is practically concluded, and is waiting submission to the CNE for approval".
The problem is that the CNE does not yet exist. 18 of its members have been elected by the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic (10 appointed by the majority Frelimo Party, and eight by the Renamo-Electoral Union opposition coalition). But the 19th, the chairperson, is supposed to be an independent figure chosen by civil society.
A list of names chosen by civil society organisations must go before the other 18 members of the CNE, and from them the chairperson will be elected. No date for this election has yet been set.
