MAPUTO, Mozambique
The European Union hopes to see major changes in Mozambique’s electoral legislation in the near future.
The head of an EU Electoral
Follow-up Mission, Nacho Sanchez Amor (who also headed the EU mission that
observed Mozambique’s 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections), told a
Maputo press conference in Tuesday that it is “absolutely imperative” to reform
the institutional framework for elections to ensure that all the bodies
involved – the National Elections Commission (CNE), parliament, the government,
the courts and the police – all work “to guarantee the fundamental political
freedoms of citizens”.
He wanted the CNE (which is in
theory an independent body), and not any government agency, to take full
control of the next elections. Municipal elections are scheduled for October
2023, and general elections for a year later.
“It is important that the next
electoral cycle be held in an environment that allows the inclusive
participation of all the stakeholders in the elections”, said Sanchez. Those
stakeholders included the voters themselves, political parties and civil society.
One of the changes Sanchez
wanted to see was “permanent voter registration” – in other words, the voter
rolls should be regularly updated instead of being thrown away after five
years. Currently a voter must re-register every time there is a national election.
Someone who voted in the first multi-party elections, in 1994, has now
registered as a voter six times, and is expected to register again for a
seventh time.
This extraordinary system was
demanded by the main opposition party Renamo, and has been incorporated into
all sets of electoral laws ever passed by the Mozambican parliament, the
Assembly of the Republic.
Sanchez also called for the
immediate publication of the election results, polling station by polling
station, on the CNE’s internet website. This is perfectly feasible but has
never been done.
He urged that every effort
should be taken to ensure “a safe environment, free from intimidation, for the
participation of election observers”.
Calls for major changes in the
electoral laws are likely to fall on deaf ears, since the three political
parties represented in the Assembly – the ruling Frelimo Party, Renamo and the
Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) seem quite happy with the laws as they are
– at least none of them have tabled any amendments.
Including the current sitting
of the Assembly, parliament will only meet in ordinary session three times
before the October 2023 municipal elections. The idea that revised election
laws can be slotted into one of these sittings seems farfetched – in particular,
because there should be a nationwide debate before such legislation is voted
upon.
Sanchez brushed such
objections aside – for him, it was all a matter of “political will”. Time could
always be found, if necessary by holding extraordinary sittings of the
Assembly.
“If there is the political
will, it can be done”, he insisted.
Sanchez declined to comment on
the extreme politicisation of the Mozambican electoral bodies. All the election
commissions – at national provincial and district level – are dominated by the
political parties, as are all branches of the CNE’s executive body, the
Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE). There are literally
thousands of political appointees in these bodies, which is why they are so
cumbersome, ineffective, and conflict-ridden.
Sanchez also expressed concern
at the two media laws that are currently on the agenda of the Assembly.
“These laws will determine the
level of freedom of expression and of the press of citizens in the future”, he
said. “So we hope all of society, particularly media professionals, are
actively involved in this important debate, and that any law that may be passed
is in accordance with internationally accepted principles in matters of
fundamental freedoms”.
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