The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), warns that the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado and the lack of budget could compromise the timing of the next electoral cycle in Mozambique, which begins in 2023 with municipal elections and ends in 2024 with legislative and presidential elections.

The head of IDEA's mission in Mozambique, Miguel de Brito, was the one who made the alert and said that the electoral bodies must be prepared to face these risks.

He advanced that "complex processes like elections will always have risks internal to the electoral administration itself, and external such as natural calamities, the conflict in Cabo Delgado and lack of roads, budget, etc."

De Brito emphasized that "what is important is that the Mozambique electoral commission is prepared to know how to identify these risks, to know how to monitor them, to see their evolution, and to always have prepared responses so that it is not caught unprepared.

Faith

Meanwhile, the President of the National Elections Commission (CNE), Dom Carlos Matsinhe, says that the financial issue is one of the risks, "but our expectation, our faith, is that it will be achieved."

"There are contacts with partners to ask for support, so that the elections can be held within the provisions of the law," said the CNE president quoted by VOA.

The National Electoral Commission said that there are only one billion meticais, out of about nine billion needed.

According to the electoral commission, just for the installation of the support organs and their logistics, 3.2 billion meticais are needed, money that, according to Carlos Matsinhe, doesn't exist.

The president of the National Election Commission, however, said that everything is being done so that the lack of money does not compromise the electoral calendar.

The National Elections Commission says it is aware of the armed violence in Cabo Delgado and is creating conditions for elections to take place throughout Mozambique.

And MDM president Lutero Simango says his party's challenge is to increase the number of municipalities under its management.