286. The Constitutional Council is responsible for reviewing and pronouncing on the legality of the CNE’s actions in the holding of elections. Before its establishment in 2004, the function of adjudicating electoral disputes was performed by the Supreme Court. Its role in the administration of elections includes validating the names of candidates for presidential elections; resolving disputes arising from the elections on appeal from aggrieved parties; examining the records of the collation of the presidential and Assembly of the Republic elections and referenda; validating and announcing the results; and fixing the date of resumption of office of the President. Like other election management agencies, even the composition of the Constitutional Council is determined largely on the basis of the proportionate strength of the political parties in the Assembly of the Republic. The chairperson is nominated by the President, subject to ratification by the General Assembly. The Assembly of the Republic chooses five judges in proportion to their numbers in the chamber, and those so selected co-opt the seventh member of the council. 287. The actual holding of elections is the responsibility of the STAE. Like the CNE, CPE and the lower electoral bodies, the composition of the STAE is also bipartisan. Its Director-General is appointed by the President, while the two main political parties, FRELIMO and RENAMO, each appoint a Deputy Director-General. Its main functions are to: • Conduct voter registration and its periodic review; • Organise and hold elections; • Plan and operate logistics support for the holding of the elections; and • Train and deploy the electoral officials for the polling stations. 288. The election of Assembly of the Republic members is, as prescribed by the GPA, based on proportional representation. 6 As a result, all candidates for Assembly of the Republic elections must belong to a political party. To obtain seats in the Assembly, a party must win at least 5 per cent of the votes in an election. This threshold was abolished in 2007. 289. Of the 54 political parties in Mozambique, the two main parties are FRELIMO and RENAMO, which between them have more than 95 per cent of the members of the Assembly of the Republic. Thus, for all practical purposes, the system is tending towards a two-party system. The 250 seats of the Assembly are distributed among the provinces according to their voter registration figures, rather than their population figures. A presidential election, on the other hand, 6 Proportional representation systems are electoral systems that are specifically designed to allocate seats in proportion to votes, in the hope that assemblies and governments will accurately reflect the preferences of the electorate. They are now the most frequently used electoral systems in Western democracies. Under proportional representation, political parties are assigned a number of seats in Parliament corresponding to the degree of support they have received in a given electoral district. Of necessity, this arrangement dictates that all proportional representation systems rely on multi-member districts. There are two basic types: party list systems and single transferable vote systems. 113