The State Council, convened in Maputo on Wednesday 11 December by the Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, proposed revising the electoral law and ‘nonpartisanship’ of the electoral management bodies, in order to contain the current social tension following the 9 October general elections.
According to a statement issued at the end of the meeting, the organisation concluded that the post-election crisis challenges the state to carry out far-reaching reforms to prevent such acts from happening again in the future. ‘To this end, a timely and inclusive review of the electoral law was proposed, which should focus on issues such as the de-partisanship and professionalisation of electoral management bodies, as well as the adoption of measures to promote transparency and credibility in electoral processes,’ it said.
The body ‘vehemently condemned the extreme violence that has taken the form of the destruction of public and private infrastructure, the blocking of roads, attacks on subunits of the Republic of Mozambique Police and the vandalising of commercial establishments’, stressing that the acts contribute to ‘weakening the economy’.
‘In this context, the Defence and Security Forces must make efforts to guarantee the normal functioning of institutions and the lives of Mozambicans. The involvement of children and adolescents in criminal offences associated with the demonstrations is also condemned,’ it said.
In the same statement, the Council of State urged the DSF ‘to be prepared for the challenges facing the country’, stressing that ‘they must improve their capacity to interact with communities, favouring dialogue and relying on force only in cases of extreme necessity and when all other mechanisms have been exhausted’.
‘We urge the living forces of society to strengthen the dialogue leading to the production of consensus on the future of Mozambique and we encourage political parties, religious denominations, academia and civil society to jointly seek solutions to the problems the country is going through, with the aim of promoting and consolidating social cohesion,’ he said.
In addition to the head of state, the meeting was attended by counsellors such as former statesmen Joaquim Chissano and Armando Guebuza, and the leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, the largest opposition party), Ossufo Momade.
The Council of State is responsible for advising the President of the Republic in the performance of his duties whenever he requests it, as well as giving its obligatory opinion on issues such as the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic, declaring war, a state of siege or a state of emergency, holding referendums and calling general elections.
