[{"bbox": [94, 163, 1135, 296], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action will contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5, 16 and 17 promoting gender equality, peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, and enhancing global partnership for sustainable development through multi-stakeholder partnership mobilizing and sharing knowledge, expertise and financial resources to support the achievement of the SDGs."}, {"bbox": [84, 325, 324, 359], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [84, 390, 235, 419], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [95, 437, 1135, 625], "category": "Text", "text": "In the wake of its independence, Mozambique saw its development hampered by the ensuing civil war. A fragile peace was achieved in 1992. Mozambique introduced multi-party political system and has punctually held national elections in respect of its constitutional calendar ever since. Mozambique has also enforced presidential term limits, and it has incrementally decentralized its governance pursuant to national peace agreements. During the last presidential and general elections in 2019, a number of irregularities led to the contestation of the election results, and international election observation missions, including the EU Election Observation Mission, expressed reservations regarding the process."}, {"bbox": [95, 635, 1135, 1035], "category": "Text", "text": "Although Mozambique has launched structural reforms to improve good governance, most governance related indicators have been stagnant or followed a negative trend in recent years. The main challenges are in the areas of electoral integrity, freedom of expression, transparency and fight against corruption, and effective participatory engagement. This has been accompanied by a weakened opposition, lack of effective oversight of government action and youth demanding greater political participation. New draft legislation (on media, broadcasting, non-profit organisations) have recently been submitted to the Parliament which could lead to limitations of the civic space. Although women representation in Parliament ranks fifth in Africa, and 19th in the world², women are very much underrepresented at the lower-levels of government and they remain worse off than men in all spheres of life. Social and cultural factors continue to discriminate and exclude women and girls from the social, political and economic life. Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province is confronted with armed violence that has resulted in over confirmed 4,000 fatalities as well as around a million internally displaced people (IDPs). The EU has been implementing an integrated approach, encompassing humanitarian, development, peace building and security actions to support the authorities towards the return to the Rule of Law. The next municipal and general elections are expected for 2023 and 2024 respectively. Transparent, credible, inclusive and peaceful elections could improve public trust in and enhance the legitimacy of the electoral process."}, {"bbox": [95, 1044, 1135, 1206], "category": "Text", "text": "Through the project 'Support to the Consolidation of Democracy' - implemented by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), the EU together with the Austrian Development Cooperation Agency, supported the national observation and civic and voter education for the last elections and provided support to newly elected parlamentarians. The project also supported the creation of a consortium of NGOs for national observation called Integridade Citizen Election Observation Network (\"Integridade\"). The project will still cover the municipal elections and should end in December 2023."}, {"bbox": [95, 1216, 1135, 1325], "category": "Text", "text": "Since 1994, the EU has made significant investments in international election observation, by sending EU Election Observation Missions (EOMs) to each of Mozambique's six general elections so far. This action is instrumental in supporting the outstanding Mozambique institutions' efforts to implement the recommendations of the 2019 EU Election Observation Mission and the priorities set out in the 2022 EU Follow-up Mission."}, {"bbox": [95, 1335, 1135, 1443], "category": "Text", "text": "Little to no progress was made in implementing any of the 20 recommendations offered by the EU EOM 2019; they remain however pertinent and valid. Most of the priority recommendations can still be implemented before the next electoral process, should there exist political will from the Mozambican authorities. Most of these relate to the overall context of human rights and fundamental freedoms."}, {"bbox": [95, 1453, 1135, 1589], "category": "Text", "text": "UNDP has put in place a comprehensive intervention, the multi-donor project 'Enhancing Democracy and Electoral Processes in Mozambique for the Electoral Cycle 2022-2025', currently supported by Norway, Canada and Spain. The project seeks to strengthen technical capacities of electoral stakeholders to promote credible and inclusive electoral processes; enhance transparency through greater public outreach and information sharing by Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) to voters; improve operations planning, including in crisis such as COVID-"}, {"bbox": [84, 1624, 484, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "² https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?month=1&year=2023"}, {"bbox": [1037, 1680, 1144, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 4 of 25"}]