Mozambique electoral campaign steps up as voting day approaches

Mozambican political parties and presidential candidates are left with only two days to convince and win over potential voters in general elections due to take place in Mozambique on October 15, as the electoral campaign ends on Sunday.

Voting materials are now being placed in the 17,201 polling stations where voters will decide the next president of Mozambique among Filipe Nyusi of the ruling Frelimo party, Afonso Dhlakama of the opposition Renamo, and Daviz Simango of the Mozambique's Democratic Movement (MDM).

17,010 polling stations are inside Mozambique, while the other 191 cater for Mozambican communities living abroad. Nearly 11 million Mozambicans have registered as potential voters, according to the country's Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE).

The director of STAE, Felisberto Naife, told journalists on Friday that all logistics are guaranteed so that the elections happen in a peaceful way and about 130,000 people will be recruited to work on the voting stations that will open on October 15 in Mozambique.

Naife said STAE is using vehicles, boats and helicopters to deliver election materials to the polling stations. The material and the polling station staff must be flown into the most remote areas.

Moreover, he confirmed that the national and international observers are already in place to monitor the electoral process.

Altogether, 27 political parties, two coalitions and one citizens association are running for the new Parliament and Provincial assemblies.

According to the Mozambican electoral legislation, voters will have as from Monday, two days to decide on the next president, MPs and members of the provincial assemblies, based on the promises made by each candidate and political party during the 45 days of the electoral campaign.

The three presidential candidates are now stepping up their campaigns concentrating on the two provinces with the biggest number of parliamentary seats: Nampula and Zambezia.

The two candidates from the opposition parties both focused on criticizing the mistakes made by the ruling Frelimo.

Dhlakama from Renamo has been concentrating his speech on promising to defend the Mozambicans and democracy as well as to solve people's problems like unemployment, poverty and to fight for justice and respect for the people.

"Only with Renamo can we overcome the problems that the Mozambican people are passing through," claimed the Renamo leader.

On his side, Simango of MDM claims that he will revolutionize the education and heath sectors and solve all problems that Frelimo failed to resolve during their 39 years in power.

Simango has been very critical to the ruling party failures particularly in providing jobs for the youth and better salaries and working conditions for teachers and health staffs. He promises to fight nepotism, corruption and lack of transparency in the management of public assets.

On his turn, Filipe Nyusi, the Frelimo candidate, boosts he will continue what has been started by the previous president, and preferred to the governance on education, as a continuous process.

According to Nyusi, when a child finishes primary school and is asked what he wants to do next, he will immediately, unless he is lazy, reply that "I'm going to continue on to secondary school," and after secondary school he would say "I'm going to continue on to university."

The southern African country will hold its presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections on October 15, to elect the country's fourth president since its independence in 1975.