Elections in Mozambique

Mozambique holds elections for the President of the Republic, the 250 members of the Assembleia da República, the ten Assembleias Provinciais and ten provincial governors, municipal presidents and municipal or povoação assemblies. A referendum may also be held where the constitutional and legal conditions permit. National and provincial mandates normally last five years. The constitutional basis includes Article 135 of the Constitution, Lei n.º 15/2024 for presidential and parliamentary elections, Lei n.º 14/2024 for provincial assemblies and governors, and municipal election laws including Lei n.º 10/2014 and Lei n.º 14/2018. The Comissão Nacional de Eleições (CNE) is the independent electoral management and oversight body. The Secretariado Técnico da Administração Eleitoral (STAE) carries out the technical administration of registration, polling and election materials under CNE supervision. Provincial, district and city electoral commissions handle responsibilities at their respective levels. The Conselho Constitucional (CC) is the highest electoral court and validates and proclaims final results. Mozambique uses universal, direct, equal, personal and secret suffrage. Parliamentary representation is generally proportional. Presidential elections are direct: a candidate wins with more than half of valid votes; otherwise, the two candidates with the most valid votes compete in a second round. A presidential candidate must have original Mozambican nationality, be at least 35 years old, retain full political rights and satisfy the applicable support-signature and constitutional review requirements. For the 2024 election, the CC required 10,000 supporting signatures for a presidential candidacy. Parties and coalitions submit plurinominal lists for the Assembleia da República. The seats are distributed proportionally using the Hondt method, and candidacies are submitted to the CNE. Provincial elections combine different allocation rules: 85% of seats are distributed proportionally according to registered voters across districts, while 15% are allocated at provincial level through the cabeça-de-lista, or lead candidate. The provincial governor is the lead candidate and wins with a majority of valid votes; a tie can lead to a second round. A post-election coalition does not replace the procedure for choosing the governor. Municipal elections are limited to registered Mozambican residents of the relevant autarquia. The municipal president and municipal assembly are elected on the same election day under CNE supervision. The exact voting arrangements for elections outside Mozambique depend on an officially established registration process and polling locations. A Mozambican citizen who is at least 18 years old, registered in the electoral roll and not legally disqualified may vote. Recenseamento eleitoral is the registration process, and it is a legal prerequisite for voting. STAE registers voters locally under CNE supervision, normally according to residence and electoral district. A new registration process is organized for each election. Registration and voting are legally free of charge. The voter card or the confirmed entry in the caderno de recenseamento provides access to the polling process. If the card is lost, voting can remain possible when the entry is confirmed and the voter presents an accepted photo identity document. Voting abroad is available only where the authorities officially establish registration and polling arrangements. Candidates and lists must meet statutory deadlines. Presidential candidacies are reviewed and confirmed by the CC, while parliamentary and provincial lists are submitted to the CNE. Parties, coalitions and grupos de cidadãos eleitores may participate where the applicable law allows it. Each candidacy appoints a mandatário, and a delegado de candidatura may represent it at a polling station. Accredited observers can monitor the process. Campaign propaganda is protected by legal rules on freedom and equal treatment. Public media must not discriminate between contestants, and the use of state or public resources for campaigning is generally prohibited except for legal exceptions. Public campaign financing comes from the state budget under CNE criteria. Voting takes place on one election day. In the 2024 national elections, the polling day was 9 October 2024. A typical assembleia de voto has seven mesa de votação members: a president, vice-president, secretary and four counters. The caderno normally contains no more than 800 voters. Polling stations are placed in public buildings, but party premises, police or military facilities, places selling alcohol and places of worship are among the locations excluded by the rules. Polling normally ends at 18:00, although voters already present and holding a senha may continue voting. A voter casts the ballot personally and secretly and may not vote more than once. A voter with a disability or blindness may choose an assistant, who must preserve the secrecy of the vote. An illiterate voter may use a fingerprint with the appropriate ink under the applicable procedure. The polling mesa checks the voter entry and handles the ballot according to the election rules. The mesa counts votes publicly after polling. It checks ballot serial numbers and separates valid, blank and null ballots. It records the result in an acta and edital, announces the result locally and displays the edital. Candidacy delegates receive copies. Through STAE, election materials must reach the district or city commission by no later than 12:00 on the following day. District and city bodies conduct intermediate apuramento, the CNE conducts centralization and general apuramento, and the CC validates and proclaims the final result. Delegates and other legally authorized participants may submit written doubts, complaints or protests. The mesa may not refuse to receive a properly submitted complaint. The complainant should identify the polling mesa, describe the concrete irregularity and attach available evidence; a disputed ballot that is not accepted is marked and handled separately. Appeals follow the deadlines and level prescribed by the applicable election law. In a national election, a challenge can proceed through the CNE to the CC, whose decision is final. A complaint made at the polling mesa and supported by precise evidence is usually more useful than a general objection made later. The 2024 final result illustrates the difference between provisional and final figures. In Acórdão 24/CC/2024 of 22 December 2024, publicly proclaimed on 23 December, the CC declared Daniel Francisco Chapo of FRELIMO president with 4,416,306 votes, or 65.17%. Venâncio António Bila Mondlane received 1,639,333 votes, Ossufo Momade 448,738 and Lutero Chimbirombiro Simango 272,736. There were 7,238,027 voters, including 6,777,113 valid votes, 205,601 null votes and 255,313 blank votes. In the Assembleia da República, FRELIMO won 171 of 250 seats, PODEMOS 43, RENAMO 28 and MDM 8. FRELIMO candidates were proclaimed governors in all ten provinces. The CC validated the 2024 election after partial corrections. The main discrepancies concerned district-level apuramento. A provisional CNE figure must therefore not be treated as the CC's final result, and a result from one district or locality must not be transferred automatically to the national level. Current registration dates, polling places, candidacy deadlines, procedures and final results should be checked against the latest official CNE, STAE and CC publication.