Patrícia Jerónimo the elections for October 1994, with voter registration expected to take three months (AprilJune 1994). On 26 March 1993, the Mozambican Government circulated among RENAMO and other political parties a draft Electoral Act to govern the first multiparty general elections, but the discussions of the draft broke down several times over issues such as the composition of the National Elections Commission and voting rights for expatriate Mozambicans. The Electoral Act was finally approved by the National Assembly on 9 December 199356 and, after promulgation by the President of the Republic, was published in the official journal as Law no. 4/93, of 28 December 1993.57 Law no. 4/93 recognised electoral capacity to Mozambican citizens of both sexes who at the date of the election were aged 18 years or over, who were regularly registered as electors and were not affected by any of the incapacities prescribed by law58 [Article 10 (1)]. Mozambican citizens not ordinarily resident in Mozambique were recognised electoral capacity for the parliamentary election [Article 10 (2)], but not for the presidential election, a difference in treatment which was criticised as illogical and contrary to the principle of universal suffrage enshrined in the 1990 Constitution (e.g. Gouveia 2004: 42-43). Per Article 11 (1), Mozambican citizens resident abroad were entitled to exercise their right to vote in the parliamentary election at the diplomatic representation of the Republic of Mozambique in their area of residence, provided that they were registered and that they met one of the following requirements: (a) to be an emigrant and to maintain Mozambican citizenship at the date of the elections, and to have emigrated from Mozambique over one year prior to the date of the beginning of the electoral registration; (b) to be on a state or public service mission recognised as such by the competent authorities, or to reside as a spouse or child of a person in these circumstances; or (c) to be in the service of legally constituted national institutions or entities. Article 11 (2) and (3) provided however for the possibility of the National Elections Commission failing to reach an agreement on voting arrangements for Mozambican citizens living abroad and prescribed that, if that was to occur – as indeed came to be the case59 –, the electoral acts would not take place outside the country and the three mandates belonging to the electoral constituency of the Mozambican communities abroad would be redistributed among the provincial electoral constituencies. On 11 April 1994, the President of the Republic announced that the general elections would take place on 27 and 28 October.60 On the 1st of June, the National Elections Commission begun the complex process of voter registration, which was initially expected to be completed by the 15th of August but was eventually extended until the 2nd of September.61 56 Information available at https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/past/onumozFT.htm#General [23.04.2019]. 57 An unofficial English version of the 1993 Electoral Act is available at https://www.ifes.org/sites/default/files/el00093.pdf [23.04.2019]. 58 Article 12 of Law no. 4/93 listed the electoral incapacities: (a) having been disqualified in a definitive sentence passed in a court of law; (b) being commonly known to be insane, being interned in a psychiatric institution or declared insane by a medical board; (c) having been sentenced to imprisonment for a malicious common law crime and not having yet completed the sentence; and (d) having been remanded in custody by a court order. 59 Further Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Mozambique, S/1994/1002, of 26 August 1994, § 19, available at https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N94/343/66/PDF/N9434366.pdf?OpenElement [23.04.2019]. Mozambicans in the diaspora had to wait until the 2004 general elections to be allowed to vote from abroad for the first time. 60 Presidential Decree no. 1/94, of 11 April 1994. 61 The extension was necessary because of the ‘serious logistical problems encountered during the initial phases of the registration process and the need to allow refugees and demobilized soldiers more time to register’. See Further Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Mozambique, cit., § 19. 20 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2019/6 - © 2019 Author