The CPLP Electoral Observation Mission (EOM-CPLP) to the elections in Mozambique, scheduled for October 9, will be led by former Portuguese minister of foreign affairs João Cravinho, the organisation’s executive secretary told Lusa on Wednesday.
According to Zacarias da Costa, the choice of the former minister of foreign affairs and defence minister to head this mission has to do with the fact that Portugal “so far has not led many electoral observation missions” of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), but also because João Gomes Cravinho “has the right profile” for the mission in that Portuguese-speaking African country.
“For all these reasons, because he is a person known and accepted by everyone,” he emphasised.
The EOM-CPLP, made up of around 20 people, including representatives of the parliaments of the organisation’s nine member states, will be in Maputo between 5 and 12 October, preceded by an advanced team from the executive secretariat, which will be on the ground on 2 October, said the executive secretary.
The presidential elections in Mozambique will take place at the same time as the legislative elections, the elections for provincial governors and members of the provincial assemblies, and are scheduled for 9 October.
Running in the presidential elections are Daniel Chapo of Frelimo (in power), Ossufo Momade of Renamo (the main opposition party), Lutero Simango of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), the third largest parliamentary force, and Venâncio Mondlane, an independent candidate supported by the Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos).
The current Mozambican president, Filipe Nyusi, is not running again because he has reached the constitutional limit of two terms in office.
In addition to Mozambique, CPLP member states include Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste.
Lusa
