Bridge Maputo

BRIDGE thematic module on the Legal Framework in Maputo, Mozambique, 27-29 October 2015

The European Center for Electoral Support (ECES) in collaboration with the Observatorio Eleitoral (member organization of the SADC Election Support Network) and the Technical Secretariat of the Electoral Administration (STAE), conducted a BRIDGE thematic module on the Legal Framework in Maputo, Mozambique.

The training took place between 27-29 October 2015 to strengthen the knowledge of the legal and regulatory framework for elections and to provide the necessary tools to deepen understanding of the Code of Conduct, the electoral system, voter and candidate registration, campaign financing, campaign expenditures, access to the media, freedom of expression, the voting process, counting and tabulation of results, the role of candidates, party agents and observers, among others. This workshop served also as a platform to foster the discussion over the reform of the legal framework of the Mozambican electoral process.

The BRIDGE legal module was held in a very delicate moment of Mozambican politics when there is an ongoing process of electoral reform that should involve all actors of the Mozambican society. The workshop aimed at enabling members of the electoral administration, civil society and political parties to open a fruitful and constructive discussion on the electoral reform process and take an active role in the decision making process of such reform.

Thethree-day training was organized under the PEV-SADC, a project in support of preventing electoral violence in the SADC region (Southern African Development Community).The project is financed by the European Union and it is implemented by the European Center for Electoral Support (ECES) in collaboration with its local partners: Observatório Eleitoraland the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE).

The training was fully conducted in Portuguese at hotel Cardoso in Maputo and comprised all of the topics related to the legal and regulatory framework for elections. The level of participation and commitment was very high throughout and the 28 participants included representatives of political parties (MDM, FRELIMO, PDD, RENAMO, PIMO, Partido Ecologista and Partido Trabalhista), the media (Rádio MozambiqueandTelevisão Miramar), the Technical Secretariat of the Electoral Administration (STAE), members of the CNE and a large representation of civil society organizations dealing with the electoral process such as the Associação Moçambicana de Educação Cívica (AMOD), Centro de Estudo de Democracia e Desenvolvimento (CEDE),Instituto de Educação Cívica (FECIV), Organização de Resolução de Conflitos (OREC), andInstituto de Diretoresas well as academic figures and researchers in law.

Four facilitators conducted the workshop: FelisbertoNaife (STAE General Director), Claudio AlbasineLanga (Director of Training and Voter Education Department of the STAE), Rodrigues Timba (CNE Vocal), and Augusta Almeida (member of the Observatorio Electoral).

To date, four trainings were organized in Mozambique in the framework of the PEV-SADC project: two trainings in Leadership and Conflict Management for Electoral Stakeholders (LEAD), one BRIDGE Training of Trainers and one BRIDGE Module on the Legal Framework.

Previous trainings in Mozambique permitted to semi-accredit 25 facilitators in the BRIDGE methodology and to train 50 participants in leadership and conflict management. The BRIDGE Legal module permitted fully accredit one facilitator (Augusta Almeida) and to certify 28 trainees. This training is the first of a series of workshops that ECES organized in Maputo in collaboration with its partners: the STAE and the ObservatórioEleitoral. ECES will organize two more BRIDGE modules on 11-13 November (Introduction to Electoral Administration) and on 16-19 November 2015 (Electoral Dispute Resolution and Electoral Security) respectively.