About US$ 1.8 million to be spent for the election campaign

Over half of the money made available from the Mozambican state budget for this year's election campaign will go to the two political organisations with proven popular support - the ruling Frelimo party and the main opposition force, the Renamo-Electoral Union coalition. The government has announced a grant of 45 billion meticais (about US$ 1.8 million) to the campaign, and the National Elections Commission (CNE) has divided it into three slices of 15 billion meticais each. CNE spokesperson Filipe Mandlate said that the first 15 billion would be divided equally between the five candidates for the presidency. The second 15 billion would be divided between the parties represented in parliament, in proportion to the number of seats they held. Since Frelimo has 133 of the 250 seats it would receive 7.98 billion meticais, while Renamo received 7.02 billion. The final 15 billion is divided between all 20 parties and coalitions (including Frelimo and Renamo) in proportion to the number of parliamentary candidates they are nominating. This means that, in total, Frelimo will receive about 12 billion meticais, and Renamo about 11 billion.
The CNE has stipulated that the money may be used for propaganda materials (leaflets, posters, T-shirts and the like), for advertisements in the media, for travel costs, and for bank charges. State funds may not be used for paying wages, buying vehicles, or for purchasing or rehabilitating houses. Asked how the CNE would check the authenticity of invoices or receipts, Mandlate admitted that it was unable to do so. (Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, Maputo)