Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s National Elections Commission (CNE) still has nowhere near enough money to hold the municipal elections scheduled for October 2023.
CNE spokesperson Paulo Cuinica told reporters in Maputo on Friday that the CNE faces a deficit of 2.2 billion meticais (about 34.4 million US dollars, at the current exchange rate) in the funding required to prepare the municipal elections.
He said that 3.2 billion meticais is needed for work that includes installing the CNE’s support bodies in all the provinces and acquiring all the materials needed for voter registration – that includes a pilot voter registration exercise this year, and the full voter registration in all 53 municipalities between 20 February and 5 April next year.
Cuinica said negotiations are under way with the government and with cooperation partners to cover the deficit.
“So far we have 1.2 billion meticais available”, he added. “Thus, we are still lacking two thirds of the sum needed for the preparatory activities. We are working with the government to find a way to overcome this situation”.
Matters are even worse if the presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for 2024 are also taken into account. Together the municipal and general elections will cost 18.7 billion meticais (about 292 million dollars).
Cuinica said that costs have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Health protocols must be observed during the initial preparations, the voter registration, and the voting itself. The CNE has been working with the Ministry of Health to reduce the risk of spreading the virus among the voters and everybody else involved in the proceedings.
The health protocols have also delayed the transport of election materials. Before Covid-19, said Cuinica, a container would take four weeks to reach Mozambique from China. Now it takes up to 16 weeks because of the need to follow the health procedures.
The pandemic “has complicated still further the acquisition of equipment and material for the elections”, Cuinica added, since more than 90 per cent of the material is ordered from abroad.
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