Mozambican Parliament to abolish presidential deposit

The Mozambican parliament is likely to remove the requirement of a deposit of 100,000 meticais (about 3,500 US dollars) from candidates in presidential elections.

The proposed change will be put forward by the parliamentary commission on public administration, which is drafting amended electoral laws.

However, the commission has not recommended the removal of the other barriers to standing in presidential elections, which include the need to hold Mozambican nationality, to hold no other nationality, to be at least 35 years old, to have full civil and political rights, and to be nominated by at least 10,000 registered voters.

The commission's chairperson, Alfredo Gamito, told reporters on Monday night that the commission had decided to remove the financial deposit.

He also said the requirement of candidates to have the support of 10,000 signatures still remains. But some political parties are calling for the reduction in the number of signatures from 10,000 to 5,000.

Gamito also stated that the commission has decided that the new electoral legislation should be drawn up to include detailed explanations of electoral procedures.

Previously, many procedural matters were left to the National Elections Commission (CNE) to decide upon. The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, will certainly approve the commission's decision.