No, you don't need to be in MP to get promoted. We just shuffled mods here in the EH and they are trying to get themselves organized for promotions.

In the beginning of the promotion system (November 2002) we used to put out promotions every 2-3 days. In the past 10 months, the promotions have been more like once a week. That is the norm. Please give the mods a little more time to get themselves organized. There is nothing you are doing wrong on your end, it is just a procedural problem on our end. Once they get the process going again, it should run smoother.