EU hopes for major changes in Mozambican election laws

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”.