Mozambican political parties, particularly the opposition, are criticizing the National Electoral Commission (CNE) for the delay in disbursing funds for the electoral campaign, which begins on the 24th.

For Renamo, the largest opposition party, this delay is deliberate and will benefit Frelimo.

In a publication by VOAThe head of Renamo's Information Department, Marcial Macome, believes that "the immediate impact of this is the production of electoral campaign material".

"The allocation of funds for all kinds of material that is part of the process is compromised by this delay. We understand that this delay is deliberate, because the 'blood-colored' party [Frelimo] lives off the public purse and so it makes no difference to them. They are producing their materials," he denounced.

These accusations are shared by the MDM's national representative, Sílvia Cheia, who is also concerned about the delay in funding.

"We, as political parties, are concerned. So far we don't have the funds, there is still no concrete forecast of when these funds will be made available," he said.

Meanwhile, Luís Cossa, from the Patriotic Movement for Democracy, considers this delay to be a sign of a violation of the Electoral Law, which stipulates that the National Electoral Commission (CNE) must make the funds available at least 21 days before the start of the electoral campaign." "For us, this is a maneuver to benefit Frelimo, which has the possibility of using state funds to finance its electoral campaign," he accuses.

However, Fernando Faustino, from Frelimo's Political Commission, said that his party's election campaign will be fundamentally financed by contributions from its members.

"We were pleased when the CNE called the contestants for the next elections, because we thought it was to say when the money would start to be made available, which we need a lot for the election campaign, but in the end it was just to talk about the distribution criteria. It's unfortunate," says Marta Uamusse, from the PANAMO party.

Under the Electoral Law, the CNE should have started disbursing funds to parties, political formations and candidates for President of the Republic from the end of last July, which has not happened, with just over 10 days to go until the start of the electoral campaign.

Meanwhile, CNE spokesman Paulo Cuinica confirmed the delay in the disbursement of 260 million meticais to contestants in the October 9 general elections, saying that the money had not yet been transferred by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

(Photo VOA)