Mozambique’s three parties with seats in parliament on Wednesday reached a deal to delay the reading of a bill proposed by the ruling Frelimo party to alter the deadline for announcing the date of the 2024 general elections.
Normally, Mozambican general elections are held in October. For the 2024 elections, the deadline for the announcement should be 15 April. But the Frelimo parliamentary group proposed to postpone the date to 15 July allegedly to give President Filipe Nyusi time to set up a commission to discuss the feasibility of district elections.
The holding of district elections was agreed between President Filipe Nyusi and the late Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama, which resulted in a constitutional amendment to accommodate the will of the two leaders in 2019.
However, Frelimo had all but made it clear that such elections should be postponed. President Nyusi suggested postponing the election of district assemblies, and suggested the setting up of a commission to discuss their viability.
Since such a commission was not forthcoming, the Renamo parliamentary group went ahead and introduced two draft bills, which Frelimo blocked.
With the introduction of the proposal to amend the dates to 15 July, observers claim that although Frelimo argues that it is to allow for general nationwide consultation on the issue of district elections, the main motivation might be to enable Frelimo to gain time until it is legally possible to change the constitution to give Nyusi a third term, by using its two-third majority in parliament – by law, a constitutional amendment can be due after 12 June.
On Wednesday, the two opposition parties, Renamo and Mozambique’s Democratic Movement (MDM) argued that they needed more time to consult, which was agreed to by Frelimo, meaning that the leadership of the three parties will hammer out any differences amongst them until they reach an agreement.
This will mean that Nyusi’s intentions of a third term can be put on the back burner for a while
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