Renamo, in opposition in Mozambique, says it has submitted a draft law to Parliament to regulate the district elections scheduled for 2023, but it doesn't know if it will be discussed in the seventh parliamentary session, which starts on the 22nd, because Frelimo, in the Standing Committee of the Assembly of the Republic, has made it impossible to schedule it.

The Center for Public Integrity (CIP) held a debate in Maputo on the first district elections in Mozambique, which have been a matter of disagreement between the President of the Republic and the opposition.

Filipe Nyusi advocates reflection on the viability of the ballot, while the opposition believes that the elections are the result of an imperative in the Constitution of the Republic and of a political agreement between the government and Renamo.

During the well-attended debate, some argued that the government and the main opposition party should negotiate in order to reach a political agreement, but José Manteigas, Renamo's spokesman, says that there is nothing to negotiate.

"What is the basis for this negotiation?" wondered José Manteigas, quoted by VOA, who is also a member of Parliament, reiterating that Frelimo doesn't want district elections because it is afraid of losing them, which is why it is trying to avoid discussing the bill that Renamo has submitted to Parliament to regulate the ballot.

In the meantime, President Filipe Nyusi has recently once again defended the need to reflect on the viability of district elections and this involves a profound resizing of the state's representation structure in the province, to ensure better coordination of centrally-responsible actions that are deconcentrated to provincial level.

The president of the Independent Party of Mozambique (PIMO), Yaqub Sibindy, believes that given the differences, Frelimo and Renamo should reach a political understanding, which could involve the equal division of the country's 150 districts by the two parties, during a transitional phase until the country is in a position to hold feasible and credible district elections.

The Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) said in a statement that the attempt to prevent the discussion of Renamo's bill "is just the first sign that the country's highest legislative body may be being dragged into enabling Filipe Nyusi's political agenda of stopping the holding of district elections in 2024".

The holding of district elections is part of the agreement signed between the government and Renamo and political analyst Ilídio de Sousa says that the agreements "should not be negotiated, but there are clauses that can be reviewed, to see whether or not it is possible to hold elections at this level".