Good afternoon. When people in Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo party start talking about making changes to elections, it is natural to be suspicious. After all, Mozambique has not had a single free and fair election in this century, and there have been quite a few elections. The last two, the municipal elections of 2023 and the national and provincial elections of 2024, were affected by more large-scale and systematic fraud than ever before. So what is to be made of reports that the local elections of 2028 could be postponed for a year (see below)?
Although this issue may be under discussion in Frelimo circles, it did not originate there. It was in fact suggested by Cremod, the committee set up by the government to think about ways of decentralising administration in Mozambique. The commission spent two years holding meetings before submitting a report to the government in July 2025, but ministers have not responded to the report or done anything with it.
The full Daily Briefing continues below for Pro subscribers. Subscribers to the Zitamar News tier can read the top half, including the full leader article, here.
Postponing the local elections has an obvious appeal. If they are held on the same day as the provincial and national elections, that could save money, for example if election materials for all three elections are delivered together. For a cash-starved government that cannot afford to make debt repayments on time, that is very important. By 2029, the government should be starting to receive tax revenues from the Coral North gas project, so the public finances ought to be stronger than in the previous year.
