Top Judiciary Reshuffled

President Armando Guebuza has declined to reappoint three top jurists: Mario Mangae, head of the Supreme Court, Antonio Pale, chief of the Administrative Tribunal charged with auditing the state accounts, and Rui Baltazar, chair of the Constitutional Council, which oversees elections. The official explanation is that all three had served long enough in their positions and that fresh blood was needed. The president has no authority to dismiss such officials unilaterally, but can decline to reappoint them. Replacements will be named when individual five-year terms of office elapse. The moves have raised some eyebrows locally as they come with a general election due to be held later this year.

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