The president of the Constitutional Council, Lúcia Ribeiro, said on Monday 28 October, during the reception of the results of the general tabulation of data from the 9 October elections, released last Thursday (24) by the National Electoral Commission (CNE), that the date on which the judges of that body will validate (and consequently proclaim) them is not yet known.
According to the official, quoted by the Carta de Moçambique news portal, the lack of a forecast for the validation and proclamation of the results is due to the nature and complexity of the process, as the legalisation phase will only begin after the conclusion of the electoral litigation procedures (electoral appeals).
Once this work has been completed, the source said, the validation phase of the results will begin, in which each judge will have a period of three days to give their ‘approval’, before it goes to the Attorney General, who will also have three days to do so. The Constitutional Council is made up of seven judges, who will have 21 days to analyse, so this phase will last 24 days.
‘Having seen’ the case, she continued, the phase of discussion (by the judges) of the facts contained in the documents will follow, and then the respective rapporteur will be appointed, who will also have a deadline to draw up the judgement to be discussed and approved by the judges of that body.
However, in addition to the nature and complexity of the process, the president of the Constitutional Council also referred to the legal limitations for a ‘rapid’ validation and proclamation of the results, pointing out that Article 184(2) of the Mozambican President’s Constitution establishes that the first session of Parliament (coinciding with the swearing in of deputies) will take place 20 days after the results of the ballot have been legalised and announced, so this last phase should take place on 23 December (bearing in mind that the current mandate will end on 12 January).
The presidential, legislative and provincial elections took place on 9 October, so the results should be announced 90 days after the vote.
