Electoral promises are already underway with a view to winning over the electorate, as part of the VI Local Elections, to be held on October 11th, in the country’s 65 municipalities. The first promises from the Frelimo party come from Roque Silva Samuel, Secretary General of the ruling party, who promises to force the resignation of mayors who do not comply with his governance program.
The promise was made this Tuesday, in the municipality of the city of Beira, capital of the province of Sofala, during the launch of the Frelimo party’s electoral campaign. The event took place at the Ferroviário da Beira field, in the Manga neighborhood, and was broadcast live and in high definition on Televisão de Moçambique (TVM), the public channel.
According to Roque Silva, Frelimo will not tolerate its mayors being relaxed because they have been elected for a five-year term, and will therefore force them to make the position available if they do not comply with their manifesto.
“These promises will be fulfilled, because Frelimo will control and we will control in all municipalities. Whoever wins the list and the seat starts to hurt him, Frelimo will ask him to write and claim that he is ill. Now we will not accept people thinking that they were elected and will stay for five years. It may not last five years, because what we want are results”, defended the number two of the ruling party.
Roque Silva argues that Frelimo intends to introduce a new approach to municipal governance, whether in municipalities now managed by the opposition, as well as in municipalities managed by the party in power. He promises to transform Beira into a modern city.
“Therefore, there was deep attention in the selection of candidates for the Municipal Assemblies, but especially those who top the lists”, he said, arguing that Stela Pinto Novo Zeca is the right figure for the city of Beira, regardless of her origins, sex and physical size . In fact, she asked the “comrades” to pray for God to bless their votes, in order to rescue the second largest city in the country from the hands of the opposition.
It should be noted that Roque Silva’s promise comes at a time when Frelimo is rehearsing a possible resignation from the mandate of Manuel Rodrigues, Governor of the province of Nampula, as he refused to head the Frelimo list for the Municipality of Nampula, now managed by Renamo.
Remember that, in 2018, Frelimo won in 44 municipalities, of the 53 that existed in the country until then. Beira, Quelimane, Nampula and Nacala-Porto appear on the list of cities conquered by the opposition, with the provincial capital of Sofala being under the management of the MDM since 2009 (after having been managed by Renamo between 2004 and 2009), which is why it appears as priority for Frelimo among the 65 local authorities.