Four SADC countries gear for elections

FOUR countries in Southern Africa will hold national elections in October and November Mozambique, Botswana, Mauritius and Namibia. Mozambique will hold general elections on October 15, followed by Botswana with parliamentary and local government elections on October 23, while Mauritius and Namibia will go to the polls on November 7 and 27 November, respectively.

The elections will be observed by a number of local, regional and international organisations, including the SADC Electoral Observation Missions (SEOMs), which are expected to issue statements on the conduct of each of the polls.

These elections come a few months after successful polls were held in the Union of Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi and South Africa, as well as the smooth transfer of power in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the year.

President Nyusi seeks re-election Mozambique will elect a president, parliamentarians and provincial governors, in the fifth multi-party national elections and the first time there will be the direct election of governors.

A total of four candidates will contest for the presidency.

These include the incumbent, Filipe Nyusi of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), who has been president since 2014 and is seeking re-election for a second and last term as stipulated by the Mozambican Constitution.

Frelimo, as the national liberation movement, has won all elections since Mozambique gained independence in 1975 and has a strong support base throughout the country.

Nyusi’s main campaign message has been peace and stability.

One of his achievements has been the signing of a peace deal with the main opposition, Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) in August, which signalled an end to a long-running internal conflict that has affected socio-economic development.

However, the Renamo presidential candidate, Ossufo Momade, has argued that the peace deal has not been fully honoured since his supporters allegedly continue to be subjected to violence.

Momade took over the Renamo leadership in May 2018 following the death of Afonso Dhlakama, and the October 15 elections will be his first.

The other two presidential candidates are Daviz Simango of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), and Mario Albino of the Action Party of the United Movement for Integral Salvation (Amusi).

The president is directly elected for a five-year term and the winning candidate is required to win 50 percent plus one of the valid votes cast.

If no candidate wins more than half of the votes cast in the first round, then a second round of voting will be conducted and contested by the top two candidates. The candidate who receives the majority votes in the second round will be elected president.

In the last election held in 2014, Nyusi gained 57 percent of the ballots cast compared to 36.6 percent by the late Dhlakama.

A total of 26 political parties have registered to take part in the elections and, for the first time, parties will appoint the governors for the provinces in which they get the most votes.

The House of Assembly in Mozambique is made of 250 members who are elected through a system of party-list proportional representation based on the country’s provinces.

According to the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) of Mozambique, more than 16 million people have registered to vote on October 15. The country has a population of about 29 million.

The SADC Electoral Observation Mission for Mozambique is headed by Zimbabwe as the current chair of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, represented by Hon. Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, the Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs. Botswana polls: A test for the ruling party Election fever has gripped Botswana in polls whose outcome many say is likely to prove whether an individual is more influential than the party or that the party is supreme to any individual.

This follows the resignation of former president Ian Khama from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to back a newly established opposition party, the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), led by former minister Biggie Butale.

Khama, who was president from 2008 to 2018, broke away from the BDP following a fall-out with his successor and incumbent President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who did not want to continue “taking orders” from Khama.

Khama’s father Sir Seretse Khama was the founding president of Botswana and the BDP. The party has won all elections since independence in 1966.

According to a list cleared by the High Court of Botswana, Masisi and Butale will contest against two other candidates for the presidency Duma Boko of the main opposition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), and Ndaba Gaolathe of the Alliance for Progressives.

However, there are reports that the opposition parties have formed a coalition under the UDC led by Boko to challenge the BDP.

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