Mozambique’s Council of Ministers on Tuesday November 28 approved the decree that sets December 10 as the date for a repeat of the local elections in the four municipalities where the process was not validated by the Constitutional Council.
A communiqué issued after the 41st ordinary session of the Council of Ministers indicates that the body approved the date proposed by the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE), and that the elections will be repeated in some polling stations in the municipality of Nacala-Porto, in the municipality of Milange, in the municipality of Gurúè and in all 41 polling stations in the municipality of Marromeu.
The proposal, approved and sent in the meantime to the National Electoral Commission (CNE), involves repeating the election in 18 polling stations in Nacala Porto, three in Milange, 13 in Gurúè and in all 41 polling stations in Marromeu.
The legislation in force states that when the election of one or more polling stations is declared null and void, “the corresponding electoral acts are repeated until the second Sunday after the decision of the Constitutional Council”.
On Friday November 24, the Mozambican Constitutional Council proclaimed the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) as the winner of the October 11 municipal elections in 56 municipalities, against the previous 64 announced by the CNE, with the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, the largest opposition party) winning four, and ordered repeat elections in another four.
In the ruling released on Friday, the body decided “not to validate, due to the nullity of the election, all the voting that took place in the municipality of Marromeu”, in Sofala province, and “not to validate the election and order the vote to be repeated” in two polling stations in Nacala Porto, with a total of 12,893 voters, in three polling stations in Milange, with a total of 2,397 voters, and in four polling stations in Gurué, with 5,747 voters.