The National Elections Commission (CNE) seeks funding from co-operation partners to respond to the electoral process. Specifically, the preparation period includes the installation of the electoral bodies, training of the staff that make up the provincial and district commissions, and logistics for registration.

For this year, considered the preparatory period, 3.2 billion meticais are planned, but so far only one billion have been collected, with a deficit of 2.2 billion meticais, according to the President of CNE, Carlos Matsinhe, in a meeting yesterday with the political parties.

"Engagements are being carried out with partners to ensure that the budget is covered. Right now the CNE is working with partners in order to find a way to overcome the deficit, which has already begun to manifest itself and there is an engagement on the part of the Government, but also of the partners who have supported us in the elections," Matsinhe said, detailing that the total for the election cycle (2022-2025) is 18.7 billion, of which 3.2 billion is for 2022 and 6.7 billion for 2023, the year of the municipalities and the remaining 8.7 billion for general elections in 2024.

The president of CNE said it is very clear that the partners in this cycle are also affected by the financing needs of other parts of the globe, pointing, as an example, the European Union that, according to him, is more turned to the Ukraine crisis, which reflects an impact on the way the traditional partners will look at the financing needs of Africa and Mozambique in particular.

"We have to be very conscious of that, but everything is being done to ensure that the elections are held within a decent context," he added.

He also pointed out that the current Covid-10 context has complicated the procurement of equipment and materials for the elections, as more than 90 percent of these goods are on order from foreign countries, which means that they must be ordered well in advance to be readily available.

Thus, Carlos Matsinhe pointed out that it is planned for fiscal year 2022 to purchase various equipment for the data processing centers due to the discontinuity in the manufacture of the servers purchased in 2013 and 2014.

"We need to acquire materials for the pilot census this year, so that next year all possible errors can be corrected. The voter registration should take place in the first quarter of next year, and it will be up to the Council of Ministers to set the period, under proposal of the CNE," he concluded.