The deadline for submitting applications for the accreditation of census inspectors expired yesterday (March 21), but political parties can still do so, even after the deadline set by law.

At the meeting with the political parties held on Monday (20/03), the MDM representative again raised concerns about the lack of territorial delimitations in the new municipalities, which prevents the political parties from defining the number of inspectors to be accredited.

As a solution, the National Electoral Commission decided to continue receiving requests for accreditation from political party inspectors, without observing the legal deadlines set out in the law.

This process will run concurrently with the process of accreditation of inspectors by the CNE's local support bodies in the districts or cities, which must be completed no later than three days (April 16) before the start of voter registration (April 20).

At the Ministry of State Administration and Civil Service, the process of delimiting the territories was approved over a month ago. It will reach the Council of Ministers after the opinion of the provincial assemblies of the provinces where the municipalities are located.

There are no specific deadlines, but there are expectations that the delimitations will be approved by the first week of April at the latest.

According to the law, political parties and coalitions of political parties must submit applications for the accreditation of their inspectors to the CNE's local support bodies "no later than 30 days before the start of the Electoral Census".

This means that the deadline was March 21, yet the government has still not approved the territorial delimitations of the 12 new municipalities.

The process, as we understand it, is stuck in the provincial assemblies, which must issue an opinion on the territorial delimitations of the new municipalities in their provinces.

Pilot census failed to reach 50% of expected voters

Matutuine, Maputo province, given the proximity of the census posts to the Maputo Reserve. The rains were also cited as an obstacle to the census in the districts of Moamba and Magude, also in Maputo province. But the "pilot" register is only for training staff and is not a real register.

Many people assumed they were receiving voter registration cards when they were not. So there may have been little support in areas where people realized it wasn't a real census.

In terms of numbers, 8,267 voters registered in the three southern districts, which corresponds to 25% of the 33,000 voters expected to register. While the turnout in the south was quite low, the same cannot be said for the center and the north.

In the three districts of Manica, in the center of the country, the turnout reached 54%, i.e. 17,852 voters were registered out of a total of 33,000 expected. In the north, more specifically in Nampula province, the turnout stood at 48% of registered voters, which corresponds to 15,758 voters out of a total of 33,000.

Overall, the number of voters registered in the pilot census was 41%, i.e. only 41,877 voters were registered out of the 99,000 expected.

The rain was the biggest problem in the three provinces because it not only prevented potential voters from going to the polls, but also disrupted the work of the civic electoral education agents, making it impossible for them to reach the population to raise awareness. (CIP Text)