At stake in this election:     

• The office of President of Mozambique

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Armanda Emilion GUEBUZA (since 2 February 2005)[i]
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Alberto Clementino Antonio VAQUINA (since 8 October 2012)
• Assembly: Mozambique has a unicameral Assembly of the Republic (Assembleia da República) with 250 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote to serve a 5-year term.*
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the President.
• In the Assembly of the Republic (Assembleia da República), 248 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms and 2 members are elected in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms.**

* The electoral system is two-round.

** 248 seats are apportioned among 11 multi-member constituencies corresponding to the provinces in proportion to their populations. Two single-seat constituencies represent Mozambicans living abroad in Africa and "other countries," respectively. According to the electoral law (2007) these seats are "both based in Maputo."

Election Note:

On Wednesday 15 October 2014, Mozambique will hold elections for President.[ii]

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Candidate: Filipe NYUSSI
  • Party: Front for the Liberalization of Mozambique/Frente de Liberatacao de Mocambique) (FRELIMO)
• Candidate: Afonso DHLAKAMA[iii]
  • Party: Mozambique National Resistance/Resistencia Nacional Mocambican (RENAMO)
• Candidate: Daviz SIMANGO
  • Party: Democratic Movement of Mozambique (Movimento Democratico de Mocambique) (MDM)

Last election:

• The last election for President of Mozambique was held on 28 October 2009.[iv] Turnout was 44.63 percent and 4,406,093 of 9,871,949 people casted ballots.[v] Armando GUEBUZA of the Front for the Liberalization of Mozambique (FRELIMO) won with 2,974,627 votes, beating Afonso DHLAKAMA of the Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO) party, who won 650,679 votes.[vi] The Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) party candidate, Daviz SIMANGO, won 340,579 votes.[vii] Results can be found here.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 24,692,144 (July 2014 est)[viii]
• Registered Voters: 10,000,000 (April 2014)[ix]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 12,648,634 (July 2014 est)[i]
• Is Mozambique a signatory to CEDAW: No[ii]
• Has Mozambique ratified CEDAW: Yes (21 April 1997)[iii]
• Gender Quota:  No. However, the political party FRELIMO has a voluntary quota that requires 40% of candidates be women.[iv]
• Female Candidates in this election: 0.
• Number of Female Legislators: 98 (39%) of 250 seats in the Assembly of the Republic[v]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 178[vi]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Ranking: 39^th out of 86 non-OECD countries (latest rankings are from 2012)[vii]