The secretary-general of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), Roque Silva, said today that the ruling party wants a “profound change” in municipal management over the next five years, after the 11 October elections.
“Even in those municipalities where we are governing, we are still concerned about the level of transformation we are making. Our bet for the next five years is profound change, not only in those municipalities where Frelimo is not winning and we intend to win, but also in those municipalities where we are governing,” said the leader at the opening of the party’s electoral campaign for the sixth local elections, which took place in Beira, Sofala province.
In the 2018 municipal elections, Frelimo won in 44 of the 53 municipalities and the opposition in only nine – the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) in eight and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) in one, in this case precisely in Beira.
At the rally where Frelimo kicked off its nationwide election campaign today from the capital of Sofala, speaking on behalf of the party’s president and head of state, Filipe Nyusi, Roque Silva promised to “save the municipality of Beira”, which was lost to the opposition exactly 20 years ago.
“We don’t want to win the municipality of Beira to add another municipality that Frelimo is running (…) We are concerned, even with those municipalities that we are not governing now. We want to bring a new dynamic of municipal transformation,” he insisted.
“We want a different dynamic, we want a different vision, because this is the capacity that Frelimo has. Frelimo is a party of transformations, because it’s a party that every day is concerned with doing more and better,” added Roque Silva.
Frelimo chose Stela Zeza, secretary of state in Sofala, as its candidate in the city of Beira, a municipality led by the MDM, the party running against the current mayor, Albano Carige António. On the side of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, the largest opposition party), which won Beira from Frelimo in 2003, the candidate is Geraldo Alexandre Carvalho.
More than 11,500 candidates from 11 political parties, three coalitions of parties and eight citizens’ groups began campaigning today for the sixth Mozambican local elections on 11 October, amid calls for a peaceful process.
Mozambique is starting a new electoral cycle, which in addition to local elections next month includes general elections on 9 October 2024, namely with the vote for the new President of the Republic, a post for which the current head of state, Filipe Nyusi, can no longer constitutionally stand.
More than 8.7 million Mozambican voters are registered to vote in these local elections, below the initial projection of 9.8 million voters, according to previous data from the National Electoral Commission.
Mozambican voters will choose 65 new mayors on 11 October, including in 12 new municipalities, which join 53 existing ones.
Lusa
