Maputo – The opposition and civil society organizations are concerned about the fact that the Mozambican president, Filipe Nyusi, has returned to Parliament the electoral legislation that gives the district judicial courts the power to order the recount of votes.
Nyusi intends for deputies to review the law that will govern the presidential, legislative and provincial governors’ elections on October 9, but Renamo says it is outraged by the return, in a context in which the legislation had been approved by consensus.
“What is intended with this veto by the Head of State is for things to continue as they were in 2023 so that the ruling party, Frelimo, continues with the saga of fraud in the next general, presidential and provincial governors elections”, says António Muchanga, Renamo deputy.
Muchanga recalls that the law approved by consensus established that district courts can order a recount of votes, “and that is what President Nyusi does not want”.
The Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) party is mainly concerned that the Head of State took around a month to return the legislation, because, according to the spokesperson for the parliamentary group of this political formation, Fernando Bismarque, the law could been reviewed during the recently concluded session.
For the Center for Public Integrity (CIP), this is a consequence of Mozambique carrying out this type of review in election years, and the current change was made when voter registration had already started.
Political lobby
In Mozambique, “the start of the electoral year is at the moment when voter registration begins, which is regulated by the law currently in force, which means that in the middle of the same process a new law will come into force, if it is promulgated by the Head of State,” says researcher Ivan Mausse, from CIP.
Mausse is concerned about this return, especially with the delay by the Head of State, stressing that there may have been political lobbying on the part of the Constitutional Council, which has always expressed opposition to the role of district judicial courts in electoral matters.
For that researcher, in a context in which district courts played a positive role for opposition parties, “it is clear that Frelimo wants to curb the jurisdiction of these courts”.
However, the spokesperson for the Frelimo parliamentary group, Feliz Silvia says that the return aims to clarify the situations that exist regarding the application of the law.
The Constitutional Council says it has not taken any steps to ensure that the President of the Republic returns the law to parliament for review.
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