The three political parties with seats in the Assembly of the Republic (AR) are secretly working on revising the Electoral Law that regulates the election of the President of the Republic and AR deputies, reveals the Center for Public Integrity (CIP).

CIP's electoral bulletin states that Frelimo, Renamo and MDM have decided not to inform the press, extra-parliamentary parties and civil society until there is consensus on the ongoing review.

"Then they will take the draft revision of the Electoral Law to be quickly approved by the Assembly of the Republic without giving it time to be known and debated by society," reads the document.

It says that 74 articles are under discussion, most of which deal with the power of the electoral courts of first instance (District Judicial Courts) to annul and have repeated electoral acts such as voting and vote counting.

"Although the three political parties secretly agreed to revise the Electoral Law, they are now failing to agree on the content of the revision. Of the 74 articles being discussed, there is only agreement on 19 articles. There are 26 articles on which the groups accept that they should continue to deepen the debate on the content of the revision and 29 articles on which there is profound disagreement," he says.

The Working Group for the Revision of Electoral Legislation is chaired by Ana Rita Sithole, the vice-chair is Feliz Sílvia, both from Frelimo. António Muchanga, from Renamo, is the rapporteur.