Mozambique elections moved forward

MAPUTO – Mozambique will go to the polls on December 1 and 2 to elect a new president and parliament in elections that mark the retirement of veteran President Joaquim Chissano, officials said yesterday.

Chissano’s office announced the poll dates after consultations with the National Electoral Commission, which had earlier suggested a provisional poll date of December 3. Chissano, who took power after the 1986 assassination of Mozambique liberation hero and founding president Samora Machel, will enter a select African club of heads of state and government who have left office of their own free will.There was no explanation for why the polls had been moved forward and expanded to two days, though officials suggested it could be because of the challenges of arranging voting in the large and impoverished country.Electoral officials were due to begin registering new voters and updating voters’ lists on Monday.The front-runner in the race is wealthy businessman Armando Guebuza, Chissano’s chosen successor within the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) and a long-time party activist.Guebuza will face former guerrilla Afonso Dhlakama of the National Resistance (Renamo), which fought a ruinous civil war against Frelimo until 1992, and boycotted the country’s last elections in 1998.- Nampa-ReutersChissano, who took power after the 1986 assassination of Mozambique liberation hero and founding president Samora Machel, will enter a select African club of heads of state and government who have left office of their own free will.There was no explanation for why the polls had been moved forward and expanded to two days, though officials suggested it could be because of the challenges of arranging voting in the large and impoverished country.Electoral officials were due to begin registering new voters and updating voters’ lists on Monday.The front-runner in the race is wealthy businessman Armando Guebuza, Chissano’s chosen successor within the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) and a long-time party activist.Guebuza will face former guerrilla Afonso Dhlakama of the National Resistance (Renamo), which fought a ruinous civil war against Frelimo until 1992, and boycotted the country’s last elections in 1998.- Nampa-Reuters