Maputo — The Mozambican government on Wednesday announced the creation of a "Commission of Reflection' on the pertinence (or otherwise) of holding elections of district assemblies in 2024.
Speaking on Wednesday at the end of the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), the government spokesperson, Deputy Justice Minister Filimao Suaze, said that the "Commission of Reflection' (CRED) is a consultative body that will advise the government on whether the district elections should be held.
Suaze said that CRED will consist of "cadres with recognized competence and experience of local governance and public finance'. It would include members from civil society and "academics with mastery in matters of public administration, decentralization and constitutional and administrative law'.
Suaze gave no names, which suggests that nobody has yet been asked to join the Commission.
In mid-February, President Filipe Nyusi launched a national debate on the pertinence of holding district elections, although he had already raised the issue in 2022.
Nyusi insisted that more time was needed to reflect on whether it is feasible to elect assemblies in the 154 districts.
These elections would take place at the same time as the elections for the President, the parliament and the provincial assemblies. This means that in most of the country voters will be faced with four ballot papers, greatly extending the time taken by tired polling station staff to count the votes.
The two main opposition parties, Renamo and the MDM (Mozambique Democratic Movement), insist that the district elections must be held in 2024, because that is what the Constitution says. The opposition, echoed by a clamor on social media, now treat the Constitution as holy writ.
If it's in the Constitution, it must happen, they insist, regardless of how much the district elections will cost, and the practicalities of holding these elections at the same time as presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections.
The district elections were thrown into the Constitution in 2018, as a concession to Renamo. It was part of the price paid for persuading the Renamo militia to lay down their weapons.
The 2018 constitutional amendments say almost nothing about what district assemblies will do. They merely state that there will be a district assembly, elected by universal suffrage, which will approve (or reject) the programme of the district government (known as the District Executive Council).
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The district administrator is not elected by name, but is simply the head of the list of whichever party wins the Assembly election. (This is, to a large extent, a carbon copy of the provisions for Provincial Assemblies).
The Constitution says nothing else, postponing all details about the district assemblies to future legislation. It does not even state how many members each Assembly will have, much less how these Assemblies will be financed.
Nonetheless Renamo is now threatening unspecified consequences if the district elections are cancelled.
The only legal way to cancel, or postpone, the district elections will be by another constitutional amendment. Frelimo has the requisite parliamentary majority to pass such an amendment.
There seem to be two possibilities - one would be simply to change the date, postponing the district elections by a few years.
The other, more radical approach, would be to scrap not only the elections, but also the district assemblies, as bodies that are entirely unnecessary.
