Maputo – The Mozambiquan government on Tuesday announced a last-minute 10 day extension of voter registration for presidential polls following opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama missing the deadline amid clashes between his rebels and the army.
Failure by Dhlakama to register , the opposition party Renamo, will not be able to participate in the October presidential election.
Cabinet spokesman Alberto Nkutumula cited “political events” as one of the reasons for the extension.
Voter registration in Mozambique began three months ago and had been due to end Tuesday.
Renamo said Dhlakama had not been able register because government forces “prevented” mobile voter registration brigades from entering the forests where he is believed to be hiding.
Dhlakama, who has lost every election since signing a peace deal with the government in 1992, is believed to be holed up in a remote mountain range in central Sofala province.
He withdrew to the bush in 2012 alleging the government had not kept the terms of the peace agreement, which ended a 16-year civil war.
When government forces overran his base camp and he fled to another location believed to be in the same region.
Since then the region has become increasingly unstable as government forces and Renamo fighters engage in sporadic clashes.
Almost 80 percent of eligible voters have registered so far, election officials said on Tuesday, compared to more than 90 percent who registered for the last presidential vote in 2009.
Renamo warned of consequences if Dhlakama was unable to register.
Nearly year-long talks aimed at easing tension between Renamo and the government appear deadlocked over Renamo’s demands for the integration of its forces into the army and police.
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