BY-ELECTIONS: CANDIDATE REGISTRATION PERIOD BEGINS

The period for the registration of candidates in the three municipal by-elections scheduled for 7 December began on Friday, according to the timetable published by Mozambique’s National Elections Commission (CNE).The by-elections were precipitated by the resignations of the mayors of the cities of Quelimane, Pemba and Cuamba, respectively Pio Matos, Sadique Yacub and Arnaldo Maloa.Under the CNE’s timetable candidates must register by 8 October. Any registered political party, coalition of parties, or independent citizen’s group, may present candidates. Each candidate must live in the municipal area, and must have the supporting signatures of at least one per cent of the registered electorate.Verification of the eligibility of the candidates will last until 28 October. That is the last date for correcting any irregularities in the candidate’s nomination papers. In previous elections, the most common irregularities have been the failure to produce on time a valid certificate of no criminal record, and proof that the candidate lives in the municipality.Lots will be drawn for position on the ballot papers in each of the three municipalities on 28 and 29 October.The official election campaign is scheduled to begin on 22 November and end on 4 December. No campaigning is permitted in the last 48 hours before polling day, a period in which the voters are supposed to ponder the messages from the candidates and make their minds up. The electoral registers will be updated between 13 October and 1 November. In this period citizens who have attained the voting age of 18 since the last elections, or those who, for any reason, failed to register in the past will be able to ensure that their names are on the voters’ roll.The country’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, has announced that it will boycott the by-elections and has even threatened that it will disrupt them. The main candidates will thus come from the ruling Frelimo Party and from the third party represented in , the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM). It is thought likely that the MDM will run one of its best known figures, Luis Boavida, for mayor of Quelimane. Boavida was a prominent member of the Renamo parliamentary group between 1994 and 2009, but defected to the MDM in 2010.