Mozambican two opposition parliamentarian parties, Renamo and Mozambique’s Democratic Movement (MDM), on Tuesday walked out of a committee duty in opposition to what they call “lack of clarity in the intentions of Frelimo“ to change the date for announcement 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.
A demand of the Renamo opposition party, district elections have been enshrined in the constitution and are supposed to take place in 2024. But the ruling Frelimo party has all but made it clear that such elections should be postponed. President Nyusi suggested postponing the election of district assemblies, while the country set up a commission to discuss their viability.
Last week, the three parties had agreed to have the matter of change to the announcement date discussed at the highest level. It would seem such discussions might have taken place because on Tuesday the Commission on Constitutional Issues, Human Rights and Legality (First Commission) decided on reading the draft bill to change the dates.
However, both Renamo and MDM walked out of the reading session. “We continue to hold our position that we cannot go on with this draft bill without first setting-up the parametres and terms of reference,” said Lutero Simango, chairperson of MDM’s parliamentary group, adding that ‘’we want the proponent, namely Frelimo, to tell Mozambicans what it intends to do” with the changes.
Comment
The opposition walk out stems from observers’ analysis that by proposing to amend the dates to 15 July, Frelimo wishes to gain time until 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.
Furthermore, observers claim Frelimo can also make changes to how the country votes for the president, that is, via universal direct suffrage, to a party list system with parliament choosing the president.
Consequently, it makes sense for the opposition to force Frelimo’s hands. As it is, only a few people know what Frelimo’s intentions are, fueling speculation that it wishes to change the constitution by stealth.
It is not clear how practical is walking out from a committee due. Perhaps the opposition hopes that it might briefly halt Frelimo.
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