Maputo — The Mozambican government intends to hold a donors' conference to request financial assistance from the international community for this year's municipal elections and for the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2004.

According to the Deputy Minister for State Administration, Aiuba Cuereneia, cited in Saturday's issue of the daily paper "Noticias", the government may call such a conference at any moment, after it has received the relevant documentation from the electoral bodies.

He said that the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the electoral branch of the civil service, was already drawing up timetables and budgets for the elections.

As soon as these proposals were ready, they would be presented to the National Elections Commission (CNE), the body in overall political charge of the elections, for its approval.

The CNE would then ask the government for the money. "Since these are very large sums, and recognising that the government does not have the capacity to pay, our international partners are already being contacted to request aid", said Cuereneia.

Cuereneia declines to estimate how much money would be needed. But in the first local elections, held in 1998, over 25 million dollars was spent to organise the ballot in 33 municipalities.

Cuereneia said there would be no further municipalisation just yet. Those towns that are not yet municipalities, do not meet the necessary conditions, he claimed.

Rather than add new municipalities to the list. the government wanted to consolidate the existing ones, he stressed.