The boundaries of Mozambique’s constituencies for the Assembly of the Republic (Assembleia da República) for correspond to those of its 10 provinces and capital district. Starting in 2004, it added two constituencies for diaspora voters, one for Mozambicans living in Africa and another for Mozambicans who live elsewhere.

Seats are apportioned to provinces before each election based on the number of registered voters with 1 seat apiece allocated to the 2 diaspora constituencies. Here is the apportionment of seats in 2003, 2008, 2013:

MZ ApportionmentParties must receive 5% of the national vote in order to qualify to receive seats, which are allocated within constituencies off of closed party lists by the d’Hondt method of proportional representation. The d’Hondt quota for each party equals the number of votes received divided by the number of seats held plus 1 with the quota recalculated each time it gains a seat. Seats are awarded in descending order of quotas until all seats have been distributed.

The 2009 allocation of the 14 seats in Niassa Province helps illustrate the process. The table below shows the votes received and the first 13 d’Hondt quotas for FRELIMO and RENAMO–the only two parties to pass the 5% legal threshold to receive seats. The first d’Hondt quota equals the number of votes and appears in the column labeled “1.” The 14 highest d’Hondt quotas, which gained their parties seats, are shaded in green.

The first 6 seats went to FRELIMO because its first 6 d’Hondt quotas were larger than the first d’Hondt quota, or the total number of votes, for RENAMO. (Each time FRELIMO gained a seat, the quota was recalculated with the divisor increased by 1.) The seventh seat was won by RENAMO because its first quota was larger than FRELIMO’s seventh quota. FRELIMO then gained the next 6 seats. RENAMO won the final and fourteenth seat because its second d’Hondt quota was larger than FRELIMO’s thirteenth quota.

MZ 2009 Niassa Allocation

Sources: EISA Regional Observer Mission: Mozambique Parliamentary and Presidential Elections, 1-2 December 2004 (Johannesburg, South Africa: EISA 2005); EISA Election Observer Mission Report: Mozambique Presidential, Parliamentary and Provincial Elections of 28 October 2009 (Johannesburg, South: EISA 2010); Comissão Nacional de Eleições (CNE, Mozambique National Election Commission); Secretariado Técnico de Administração Eleitoral (STAE, Technical Secretariat for the Administration of Elections).