The ruling party candidate for Mozambique’s presidential election has officially been declared the winner of the ballot despite allegations of vote-rigging by opposition parties and international observers. The southern African country’s electoral commission announced on Thursday that Frelimo’s presidential candidate, Daniel Chapo, had emerged victorious in the disputed presidential ballot, winning 70.67 per cent of the vote.
Mozambique held general elections on October 9th, which included presidential, parliamentary and provincial ballots. In parliament, Frelimo won 195 seats, 11 more than it did in 2019. New entrant Podemos came second with 30 seats, and the 2019 runners-up Renamo won just 20 seats.
The announcement came after more than a week of tension, protests and civil unrest in parts of the country involving supporters of presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane and Podemos, who claimed he was the rightful winner of the election. The electoral commission said Mr Mondlane, who was a prominent former parliamentarian with Renamo before aligning with Podemos, received only 20 per cent of the vote in the presidential poll.
Mr Chapo (47) replaces the outgoing Filipe Nyusi, who has been president of Mozambique for the past 10 years having served two terms in office, which is the limit.
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Frelimo, a former liberation movement, has been in power in Mozambique since the country secured its freedom from Portuguese colonial rule in 1975 following a brutal war of independence.
Mr Chapo’s main rivals in the election were Mr Mondlane and Ossufo Momade – the leader of Renamo, which was the country’s main opposition party ahead of the poll.
Tensions have been running high in Mozambique since preliminary results from the presidential poll released early last week showed Mr Chapo was well ahead in the race. The volatile situation became even more entrenched across the nation after opposition parties and election observers claimed there was evidence of election irregularities and vote-rigging.
In a statement on October 22nd the EU’s election observation mission in Mozambique noted “irregularities during counting and unjustified alteration of election results at polling stations” at the district level.
The situation spilt over into violent protests earlier this week after Mr Mondlane’s lawyer, Elvino Dias, and another political official, Paulo Guambe, were shot dead in their car in the capital Maputo last Friday, allegedly by security forces. Mozambique’s security forces have denied any wrongdoing.
Prior to the shootings Mr Mondlane had already claimed victory in the poll, and he alleged the killing of his aides was politically motivated as they were preparing a legal challenge to the election following the release of the preliminary results.
Thousands of Mozambicans joined opposition protests on Monday in Maputo, Beira and Nampula, according to local media. They reported that dozens of people had been arrested and at least 16 were wounded and taken to hospital.
Pressure has mounted on the Mozambican authorities to identify the killers of Mr Mondlane’s aides and bring them to justice after former Mozambican president Armando Guebuza, the African Union, the UN, the US and the EU all condemned the murders.
The chief of the EU’s election observation mission in Mozambique, Spanish MEP Laura Ballarín, called on the national authorities “to swiftly investigate this heinous act, identify the perpetrators and hold them accountable”.
Mr Mondlane has called for a national strike on Thursday and Friday to protest against the alleged rigging of the election, saying the mass demonstrations would honour the lives of Mr Dias and Mr Guambe.
Mozambique’s electoral commission said 43 per cent of the more than 17 million registered voters in Mozambique took part in the election.
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