The Center for Public Integrity (CIP) states that the postponement of the district elections "until favorable conditions exist" was  orchestratedin the interests of the Frelimo party through internal trickery.

An article in CIP highlights three moments in which the genesis of the juggling act by the party with a parliamentary majority to make the district elections unfeasible can be seen in public. These are the pronouncements of Filipe Nyusi, President of Frelimo, and of the Republic (PR), "suggesting" reflection on the feasibility of holding the ballot.

The first, as president of Frelimo, took place at the closing of the 5th session of the party's Central Committee, in March 2022; the second as PR, in the city of Nampula, at the opening of the 3rd National Conference on Decentralization; and the third, also as PR, was in December 2022, when he issued a public invitation to reflect on the districts during the presentation of the Annual Report of the Head of State on the General State of the Nation, at the Assembly of the Republic.

CIP believes that, on the first occasion, it was Frelimo's intention; on the second, it became the government's, as government and local authority leaders took part in the ceremony in Nampula; and, on the third, it was almost confirmed that it was impossible to go ahead with district elections.

As a continuation of the strategies to block the vote, the NGO says: i) Frelimo voices echoed the postponement of the district elections; ii) Frelimo MPs shortened the period for calling the general elections; iii) the government created the Commission for Reflection on the Relevance of District Elections in 2024 (CRED), to legitimize the desire to postpone the district elections in 2024; iv) Frelimo MPs presented the Draft Point-by-Point Revision of the Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique (CRM), at the beginning of May 2023, under which they intended to amend no. 3 of article 311 of the Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique (CRM); and, v) Frelimo MPs approved the wording of article 311 of the Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique (CRM).v) Frelimo MPs approved, in the Assembly of the Republic, with 178 votes, the wording that threatens the effective holding of elections in the future, thus postponing the elections.

"Decentralizing the province and the district would clearly represent a threat to Frelimo's political hegemony, as it would open up a field for the fragmentation of power in these two new decentralized entities, which has been happening since the creation of local authorities," says CIP.

With the current scenario, the holding of district elections is dependent on any "favorable conditions", which, on the other hand, "responded positively to the position of the Frelimo government that emerged from the 5th session of the party's Central Committee. Having Nyusi as party president and President of the Republic allowed the will of the party to be imposed on the different players, the party, the government and the legislature."