Patrícia Jerónimo Democrática (UD).66 With small variations,67 the following general elections of 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 would produce similar electoral results (Silva 2016: 34-35), leading critics to complain that Mozambique is basically an ‘elected single-party state’ (Sumich 2013: 100). Another important component of the peace process was the return and reintegration of Mozambican refugees, as well as of internally displaced persons and demobilized military personnel. At the end of ONUMOZ’s mandate, in December 1994, the UN Secretary-General estimated that out of a target population of 6.5 million, approximately 4.3 million people had returned to their original areas of residence, which included 1.1 million former refugees, 3 million internally displaced people and around 200,000 ex-combatants and their dependants.68 According to a previous report by the UN Secretary-General, 40% of the original (1.5 million) refugee population had left camps in neighbouring countries by January 1994, most of them spontaneously.69 The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) organised repatriation programmes from Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa, in cooperation with local authorities and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).70 With the peace process closed and a multi-party National Assembly in place, calls begun for a ‘profound revision’ of the constitutional framework. The 1990 Constitution had been adopted in the context of a single party system and had not been substantially amended following the signature of the General Peace Agreement (Gouveia 2004: 105). The two amendments of 199271 had made only minor changes to the electoral regime and the 1996 amendment72 had been limited to provisions on local government. After five years of experience as a pluralistic and democratic regime, the time was deemed ripe and the procedure for a fourth constitutional amendment was put in motion, with the creation at the National Assembly of an ad hoc commission to study the amendments to be made to the Constitution (Gouveia 2004: 106). The three parties represented in the National Assembly – FRELIMO, RENAMO and UD – submitted their proposals, which Gouveia (2004: 107) reputed to be the result of a ‘serene reflection about the Mozambican constitutional question’ and well-grounded in the Mozambican ‘civic and political conscience’ with little recourse to imported solutions. On the basis of the three proposals, the parties agreed on a constitutional amendment bill which was then submitted to public discussion, first in the city of Maputo and then spread out to the different provinces, to get input from civil society (Gouveia 2004: 107108).73 The Constitution was adopted by the National Assembly on 16 November 2004 and 66 Final Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Mozambique, cit., §§ 7-9. In the 1999 and 2004 elections only FRELIMO and RENAMO elected MPs, and in 2009 elections the third party slot was taken by a new party MDM – Mozambique Democratic Movement (Movimento Democrático de Moçambique) – (Sanches 2014: 53-55). 68 Final Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Mozambique, cit., § 23. 69 Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Mozambique, S/1994/89, of 28 January 1994, § 25, available at https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N94/047/14/PDF/N9404714.pdf?OpenElement [23.04.2019]. 70 Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Mozambique, S/1994/89, cit., § 25; Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Mozambique, S/1994/511, of 28 April 1994, § 41, available at https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N94/196/62/PDF/N9419662.pdf?OpenElement [23.04.2019]. 71 Law no. 11/92, of 8 October 1992, and Law no. 12/92, of 9 October 1992. Published in Rodrigues et al. (2006: 201-204). 72 Law no. 9/96, of 22 November 1996. Published in Rodrigues et al. (2006: 205-208). 73 In the meantime, a fourth ‘partial’ amendment to the 1990 Constitution was necessary once it became apparent that the constitutional amendment process would not be completed before the end of the mandate of the MPs in the National Assembly and of the President of the Republic. FRELIMO, RENAMO and UD agreed to extract from the proposals deposited with the National Assembly those concerning the electoral regime and 67 22 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2019/6 - © 2019 Author