It was already foreseeable and the scenario pointed that way. There will be no district elections in 2024. The Frelimo Party decided not to go ahead with the elections, thus violating an agreement signed with Renamo which at the time, among several points, called for district elections.   

The Center for Public Integrity (CIP) writes, citing a publication in the newspaper Notícia, that the Frelimo parliamentary caucus considers it inappropriate to hold district elections in 2024. The next step will be to submit to parliament a proposal for a punctual revision of the Constitution of the Republic (CR).

The CIP document says that Frelimo suggests that the 2024 elections should only be presidential, legislative and provincial. "For Frelimo, the whole process of decentralization must be gradual, safe, viable and must bring added value to the functioning of institutions. In this context, district elections will not consolidate democratic institutions, as well as entailing high costs for public finances, since it would be necessary to create bodies: a new administrator, a state representative and a district assembly," says the head of the ruling party's caucus, Sérgio Pantie, quoted in the text.

And more. According to the CIP document, Frelimo believes that holding these elections would make management complicated and create tremendous confusion among people, because it would call into question the role of the governor. Each district would have an administrator who is not accountable to the provincial governor.

A few days ago, the Renamo Party, through its spokesman, Venâncio Mondlane, reminded the ruling party in a parliamentary debate that district elections are established in the Constitution of the Republic as part of decentralization, a demand made by Renamo.

It should be noted that the district elections are part of an agreement between the late Renamo president, Afonso Dhlakama, and the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, aimed at putting an end to the renewed fighting in the center of the country. At the time, the constitution was revised to accommodate the demand for these elections. And it seems that the government has decided to abandon the agreement.