The Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) guarantees that everything is in place for the general elections to be held tomorrow, Wednesday, throughout the country.

At a conference held yesterday, Monday, STAE spokeswoman Regina Matsinhe said that "the conditions are in place for the process to start smoothly on October 9," including in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country.

Quoted by Radio France Internationale (RFI)Matsinhe indicated that everything is ready for polling stations to open "smoothly" this Wednesday at 7am, assuring that all the voting material is in the final stages of distribution.

"What we have so far is that the conditions are in place for the process to get off to a smooth start on October 9," she said. Regina Matsinhe called on "all voters to go to the place where they are registered to exercise their right to vote" and then to "follow the process at home throughout the day via the media and wait calmly for the official results that will be released by the electoral management bodies, initially until the Constitutional Council proclaims them".

In the same publication, the spokeswoman for this electoral body stressed that "the conditions have been created for the payment of all the staff involved in this process" and that "the amounts have already been decentralized and are all in the provinces".

The elections will involve more than 18,500 polling station staff, spread across the country's 154 districts (180,075) and outside the country (4,436). On polling day, there will be 8,737 polling stations in Mozambique and 334 abroad, corresponding to 25,725 polling stations in the country and 602 abroad, each with seven members.

Regina Matsinhe added that in Portugal there are 16,835,400 voters registered to vote and abroad there are 333,839 registered voters, i.e. a total of 17,169,239 voters.

The STAE spokeswoman also assured that everything in Cabo Delgado is ready for the vote, in terms of material and security.

"The materials are already in Cabo Delgado. For the placement in those places where there are outbreaks or there may be a need to take the materials to the various districts, we will do so using alternative means. In security matters, we always work closely with the provincial authorities. So far, the information I have, as spokesperson, is that there are indeed conditions and everything else is being properly taken care of to ensure that nothing fails," he added.

As for the deadline for the official results, no precise date was given, but she explained all the stages. First, there's the partial tabulation as soon as the polls close and the table members have up to 24 hours to forward the results to the district election commissions, which have a period of three days to make the announcement and then up to 24 hours to forward it to the STAE Provincial Elections Commission.

In the next phase, the results of the provincial tabulation are announced by the president of the provincial elections commission, within a maximum of five days. The National Electoral Commission (CNE) then centralizes and releases the election results within 15 days and sends them to the Constitutional Council, which must validate and proclaim the results, but without deadlines set by law.

Mozambique is holding its seventh presidential elections this Wednesday, at the same time as the seventh legislative elections and the fourth elections for provincial assemblies and provincial governors.

In the race for the Presidency of the Republic are Daniel Chapo, supported by Frelimo, the ruling party, Ossufo Momade, supported by Renamo, the largest opposition party, Lutero Simango, supported by MDM, the third largest parliamentary party, and Venâncio Mondlane, supported by Podemos, which has no parliamentary representation.

(Photo DR)