MAPUTO– Renamo, Mozambique’s main opposition party, which is still categorized as a rebel movement by the government because its armed elements have still not been demobilized, has registered to take part in the country’s municipal elections scheduled for Oct 10.
The Renamo national election agent, Andre Magibire, on Tuesday submitted the required documents to contest the elections to the National Elections Commission (CNE), which promised to notify him, if any irregularities are detected.
Magibire told journalists that Renamo would contest in all 53 municipalities, and was confident that it would win in most of them.
He also revealed that Renamo has adopted a new strategy to eliminate electoral fraud, but did not give any detail of this strategy. Renamo claims that all previous Mozambican elections had been fraudulent, right from the first multi-party general election in 1994.
So far there are no names of Renamo candidates. Magibire said conferences would now be held across the country to choose the candidates for the municipal assemblies.
Under the constitutional amendments passed last month by the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, there will no longer be any separate elections for mayors. Instead the head of the list for the municipal assembly of whichever party or group wins the majority of votes will become mayor.
Renamo boycotted the 2013 municipal elections, with the result that there is not a single Renamo member in any of the municipal assemblies. It has now abandoned its boycott and won the mayoral by-election in the northern city of Nampula in March. The victorious Renamo candidate, Paulo Vahanle, must now work with a municipal assembly that is dominated by the second opposition party, the MDM.
Like Renamo, the ruling Frelimo Party has also not yet announced any of its candidates. The head of the Frelimo brigade in Maputo city, Margarida Talapa, who is also head f the Frelimo parliamentary group, told a Tuesday press conference that the heads of the Frelimo lists for the municipalities should be known in the first half of July.
All parties, coalitions or independent groups of citizens wishing to run in the municipal elections must register with the CNE by 29 June.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK