Maputo — Lutero Simango, leader of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), the country's second largest opposition party, has insisted that a possible third term of office for President Filipe Nyusi would require a referendum.
Cited in Wednesday's issue of the independent newssheet "Mediafax", Simango said such a referendum would have to be held before the campaign for the 2024 election campaign began, and, although the possibility of referenda is mentioned in the Mozambican constitution, the legislation governing how a referendum would be held does not yet exist.
There have been murmurs about a possible third term for Nyusi for some time, although Nyusi himself has never mentioned the matter. Nor has the ruling Frelimo Party in any public statement.
Last week, the outgoing General Secretary of the Frelimo youth wing, the Organisation of Mozambican Youth (OJM), Anchia Talapa, called for a third term for Nyusi (although she appeared to be speaking only of his role as President of Frelimo rather than President of the Republic, although in practice the two roles have never been separated). But no vote was taken on Talapa's proposal.
Several enthusiasts who claim to be Frelimo militants have been advocating a third term for Nyusi on social media, but there is no way of judging how much support they enjoy within Frelimo.
What is certain is that the Mozambican Constitution forbids a third consecutive term of office. It states that "the President of the Republic may only be re-elected once". A President who has served two terms may only stand for election again after a gap of at least five years.
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Of course, the Constitution can be amended. Any constitutional amendment requires a two thirds majority in the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. The text of the proposed amendment must be deposited in the Assembly at least 90 days before the start of the parliamentary debate.
Currently Frelimo enjoys a two thirds majority in the Assembly, but to date the Frelimo parliamentary group has shown no interest in changing the Constitution.
As for holding a referendum, Simango is quite wrong. Indeed the Constitution (in article 136) states that Constitutional amendments shall not be put to a referendum, unless they deal with such fundamental issues as the unity of the state, the republican form of government, the lay nature of the state, universal suffrage or political pluralism. Merely deciding whether the President can be in office for two or three terms does not merit a referendum.
But there seems no way that the Constitution can be amended before the 2024 presidential election. There simply is not enough time: nationwide consultation has been the norm before any other significant changes to the constitution, and it is hard to envisage holding such a consultation in the two years remaining before the presidential election campaign.
All the chatter about a third term for Nyusi assumes that, if the Constitution allowed it, Frelimo would propose Nyusi as its candidate for 2024. But there is no guarantee of this. Other figures in Frelimo may well wish to run for the Presidency.
Mozambican politics has been here before. There were calls for another term of office for both of Nyusi's predecessors, Joaquim Chissano and Armando Guebuza, but they came to nothing, and the normal constitutional procedures were followed.
