Funds available for municipal elections preparations: CNE
Mozambique’s National Elections Commission (CNE) has available three billion meticais (about 47.1 million US dollars at current exchange rate) to cover all the expenses inherent to the electoral process for the current year.
CNE’ s initial estimate is that the municipal elections will cost 9.7 billion meticais (about 151 million US dollars, at the current exchange rate). Of this sum, 3.2 billion meticais will be spent this year on preparations, and the rest in 2023, including the voting itself and the proclamation of results.
The sum is intended for the acquisition of material for pilot voter registration and full voter registration, which is scheduled to start on 20 February and end on 5 April 2023. Other expenses include installation of CNE’s support bodies in all the provinces.
CNE spokesman, Paulo Cuinica, made the announcement this Saturday at a Maputo press conference.
Cuinica said that the decision to disburse the funds was taken during the 10th extraordinary plenary session of the CNE, held in Maputo on Friday (07).
'Having already made available the amount to carry out the activities for the year 2022, the electoral bodies will now start with the process of acquiring the materials and equipment for voter registration,' he said.
According to the spokesman, training of the new members that make up the electoral bodies at district and provincial level will take place between 17 October and 11 November, as the process of their installation throughout the country has already been completed.
'These new members need training to be able to deal with electoral matters,' he said.
He revealed that the electoral bodies have already been provided with adequate facilities for their operation, and their adjustment is currently underway so that they have viable characteristics for the full operation of electoral activities.
In another development, Cuinica said that the date for the swearing in ceremony of Loló Corea as the new director-general of the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) is yet to be announced due to a complaint lodged by Helena Garrine, one of the candidates.
The case is currently before the Administrative Court, and the CNE is waiting for the outcome.
STAE is the executive body of the CNE. The CNE takes the main decisions and STAE, represented in every Mozambican district during electoral periods, must implement them. In particular, STAE must organize the of voter registration and must run all the many thousands of polling stations needed on election day.
(AIM)
