The National Electoral Commission (CNE) already has 260 million meticals (3.7 million euros) available to fund the campaign for the 9 October elections, the distribution of which began this Thursday (15), reports Lusa.
‘We’re very satisfied because we’ve finally managed to get the funds for the campaign. We have a total of 260 million meticals to finance the 37 political groups running in the general elections,’ said Paulo Cuinica, spokesman for the CNE, during a press conference.
According to Cuinica, 86 million meticals will be distributed for each election (presidential, legislative and provincial), to be divided into three parts for each political grouping.
‘This amount will be divided equally between the contenders for the Presidency of the Republic, which include Daniel Chapo, representing the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), Ossufo Momade, from the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Lutero Simango, of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), and Venâncio Mondlane,’ said Cuinica, adding that each candidate should receive 21 million meticals, while for the remaining elections the amount will be divided according to the number of seats for which each political force is running.
‘As for the three parliamentary parties (Frelimo, Renamo and MDM), they should receive a total of 40 million meticals each,’ he emphasised.
The CNE spokesman also said that the second and third parts of the amount will be made available upon presentation of proof of previous spending, pointing out that eligible expenses include electoral political propaganda material, written or recorded propaganda texts published in the media, bank charges, travel expenses and allowances.
‘In the event of irregularities in the justifications, which are not rectified within 60 days, fines will be imposed and the cases referred to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for the appropriate legal effects,’ Cuinica clarified.
He took the opportunity to apologise, on behalf of the body, to the candidates and political groupings for the delay in making the funds available, which should have taken place 21 days before the start of the electoral campaign, which begins on 24 August and ends on 6 October.
It should be noted that as of Tuesday 13 August, the CNE had not yet released the amount for the campaign, but it had called the general election contestants to discuss the criteria for distributing the funds.
