Parliament will debate and approve changes to the municipal election law tomorrow and Thursday (18,19 July) but parts of the proposal by the Council of Ministers (CM) will be rejected. An unusually critical assessment by the 1st Commission of parliament, the Constitutional, Human Rights and Legality Commission (Assuntos Constitucionais, Direitos Humanos e de Legalidade) called some proposals unconstitutional. The 161 page paper was agreed by all parties - Frelimo, Renamo and MDM.
The late Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama and president Filipe Nyusi reached an agreement on decentralisation, which included replacing direct election of mayors with a system where the head of the list for municipal assembly that receives the most votes automatically becomes mayor. Parliament approved changes to the constitution in May to incorporate the agreement and the Council of Ministers submitted proposed changes to the municipal elections laws, which parliament's 1st and 4th Commissions are changing.
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