Mozambique Political Process Bulletin

2008 Local Election Issue 1 – 5 November 2008
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Published frequently during the election period
Editor: Joseph Hanlon (j.hanlon@open.ac.uk) – Deputy editor: Adriano Nuvunga
Published by AWEPA, the European Parliamentarians for Africa, and CIP, Centro de Integridade Pública
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FULL CANDIDATES LIST

The attached file contains a full list of all parties and presidential candidates for all 43 municipalities, plus a list of the number of voters and assembly seats, and, for comparison, the 2003 results. (Note the file must be printed landscape, not portrait)

9 PARTIES AND 6 LOCAL LISTS
STAND IN 19 NOV LOCAL ELECTIONS

Frelimo and Renamo are the only parties with candidates lists for assemblies in all 43 municipalities in local elections on 19 November, according to definitive lists published by the National Elections Commission (CNE). Frelimo has candidates for mayor (presidente) in all 43, and Renamo in 40. Five smaller parties, two coalitions, and six citizens lists are also contesting some municipalities.

Of the 43, 10 are new municipalities. Of the 33 old municipalities, 28 mayors are Frelimo and 5 Renamo. Frelimo has seats in all 33 municipalities and a majority in 29; Renamo has seats in all but 2 and a majority in 4.

Two parties which won seats in 2003 are again contesting the elections:
+ PDD (Party of Peace, Democracy and Development) is standing candidates for mayor in 17 municipalities, and is fielding candidates for the municipal assemblies in 24. This is Mozambique’s third largest party, and is led by Raul Domingos, who was expelled from Renamo in 2000. IPADE, the Domingos-led predecessor of PDD, won one seat each in Beira and Dondo in 2003.
+ PIMO (Independent Party of Mozambique) is running for 16 municipal assemblies. In 2003, PIMO won a single seat in each of Nampula, Cuamba and Angoche.
The order of the first four parties on the ballot paper will be Frelimo, Renamo, PDD, PIMO.

Three citizens lists with seats in individual assemblies are standing again:
+ JPC (Juntos pela Cidade – Together for the City) won 15 seats in Maputo in 1998 and 5 in 2003.
+ OCINA (Oranizacao de Candidaturas Independentes de Nacala Porto - Organisation of Independent Candidates of Nacala) won 11 seats in Nacala in 1998 but only 1 in 2003, standing for assembly and mayor.
+ UM (Uniao para a Mudança, Union for Change) won a single seat in Gurue in 2003 and is standing again, as well as putting forward a candidate for mayor.

Five other parties and coalitions are standing in a few municipalities:
+ PT (Labour Party) is standing for 3 municipalities. It was the only small party to win seats in 1998 but gained none in 2003.
+ UNAMO (Mozambique National Union) is standing for three municipal assemblies; its president, Carlos Reis, is a candidate for mayor of his home town of Milange.
+ AND (National Democratic Alliance. a coalition of four small parties) has candidates for mayor and municipal assemblies in Matola and Pemba.
+ MONAMO (Mozambique Nationalist Movement) is standing for both mayor and assembly in Cuamba.
+ CEV, a coalition of two green parties, is standing for the Maputo and Matola assemblies and for mayor of Matola.

Finally, three new citizen’s lists are standing for both assembly and mayor in individual cities:
+ GDB, Grupo para a Democracia da Beira (Group for Democracy in Beira).
+ GMM (Grupo para a Mudança de Marromeu, Group for Change in Marromeu).
+ NATURMA (Grupo de Naturais e Residentes da Manhiça, Group of Natives and Residents of Manhica).
But a citizens list which had a single seat in Ilha de Moçambique is not standing again.

The only independent candidates for mayor is Daviz Simango, the current mayor of Beira, who was expelled from Renamo in September. He is now backed by the Beira independent citizen’s organisation, the Group for Reflection and Change (GRM), in his bid for re-election. This means there are five candidates for mayor in Beira, which could lead to no candidate gaining a majority, forcing a second round between the two candidates with the highest vote.

There are 111 candidates for 43 posts as mayor and more than 6000 people are standing for assembly seats. Renamo is standing in local elections on its own, and not part of the Renamo Electoral Union with smaller parties as it did in the past and as it serves in parliament. Renamo has, however, included two prominent figures who once led minor parties as candidates for mayor. Jose Samo Gudo, former head of the Mozambique United Front (FUMO), is Renamo candidate for mayor of Matola, while Jose Palaco, former head of the Patriotic Action Front (FAP), is Renamo candidate for mayor of Alto Molocue.

4 MAYORAL CANDIDATES DISQUALIFIED

The National Elections Commission (CNE) on 30 October disqualified four candidates for mayor. Three are Renamo candidates who did not satisfy the requirement of living in the municipality in which they were standing for at least six months.

Cristovao Soares, Renamo candidate Gorongosa in Sofala had the best chance for Renamo of winning one of the 10 new municipalities, but the documents he submitted said he had only lived there for four months.

Manuel Bissopo, Renamo candidate for mayor of Dondo, lives not in Dondo but 30 kilometres away in Beira. He was a vereador, a member of Beira City Council, until he was sacked in September by the mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, who is standing for mayor there as an independent. The Renamo candidate for mayor of Manica town, Benjamim Massangaice, was found to be living not in Manica, but in the provincial capital, Chimoio.

The fourth disqualified candidate is Joao Alfazema, candidate for mayor of Milange from the Party for Peace, Democracy and Development (PDD), He failed to supply the CNE with his photograph, which is a basic requirement for mayoral candidates because the photo appears on the ballot paper.