The National Elections Commission (CNE) has no budget to meet the Executive's desire to create new municipalities in Mozambique, so it says it is unreasonable to carry out the plan in the run-up to the 2023 local elections.

According to the CNE, a possible dip in this process could make its work even more difficult given the current lack of funds to hold elections in the country's 53 municipalities.

CNE spokesman Paulo Cuinica made it known that the electoral bodies always have a contingency plan on the agenda for this type of surprise.

"What we did not expect was that this recent announcement would be made after the election date had been set. For this reason we had not included this possibility in the budget," Cuinica said.

The official warned of the occurrence of constraints such as training new members of this new municipalities. "This will entail the displacement of trainers to carry out the training."

On the other hand, the CNE is still looking for a strategy to ensure that the population affected by terrorism in conflict zones can participate in the electoral process.

"This is a complex issue because it doesn't stop at the level of the electoral bodies, it goes beyond everyone, the actors who act in the electoral process. We hope that the situation will be resolved as soon as possible, but until that happens, we are in contact with relevant institutions to see how we will deal with the displaced people who belong to Mocímboa da Praia," he said.

Registration for the sixth municipal elections is scheduled for February 20 to April 5, 2023.