Mozambique to hold general election in October 2019

Mozambique will hold presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections on October 15, 2019, the presidency said on Wednesday, setting the date for a vote that will proceed the southern African country’s emergence as a major gas exporter.

President Filipe Nyusi set the date of the election, a notice on the presidency website said.

Mozambique is due to start exporting liquefied natural gas in 2022 from huge offshore fields operated by oil majors including Italy’s ENI and Exxon Mobil.

NAN reports that the last general elections were held in Mozambique on October 15, 2014.

Nyusi, the candidate of the ruling FRELIMO, was elected president, and FRELIMO retained its parliamentary majority.

The president was elected using the two-round system.

Then President Armando Guebuza was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.

The 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic were elected in 11 multi-member constituencies based on the country’s provinces and two single-member constituencies representing Mozambican citizens in Africa and Europe.

Seat allocation in the multi-member constituencies was based on proportional representation using the d’Hondt method, with an electoral threshold of five per cent. (Reuters/NAN)