The Mozambican electoral commission formally acknowledged Daniel Chapo, the presidential candidate for Frelimo, as victorious in the presidential vote, notwithstanding accusations of voting manipulation by opposition parties and international monitors. Frelimo’s candidate, Chapo, won 70.67 per cent of the disputed vote. The announcement was made on Thursday, following the general elections on October 9th, in which votes were cast for presidential, parliamentary and provincial offices. The final tally for the rest of the ballots had not been announced as of Thursday night.
The formal announcement came after a week of escalating tension, public outcry and civil turmoil in certain parts of the country, stoked by supporters of Venâncio Mondlane (the presidential nominee for the opposition party Podemos.) They professed that Mondlane should have been the election’s rightful victor. Yet, the electoral commission stated that Mondlane, an influential former member of the main opposition party Renamo before joining Podemos, obtained a mere 20 per cent of the presidential votes.
Daniel Chapo, 47, succeeds Filipe Nyusi, who presided over Mozambique for two terms (the maximum limit) totalling 10 years. Since its liberation from Portuguese colonizers after a gruesome independence war in 1975, Mozambique has been under the governance of Frelimo, a former liberation movement.
Chapo faced stiff competition from rivals Venâncio Mondlane and Renamo’s leader Ossufo Momade, the main opposition party prior to the election. Since the release of the initial presidential results last week showing Chapo in the lead, tensions have been rising in Mozambique. Opposition parties and election monitors’ allegations of irregularities and fraudulent voting further exacerbated the precarious situation. On October 22nd, the EU’s election observation mission in Mozambique flagged “counting irregularities and unmerited election result adjustments at polling stations” at the district level in their statement.
The tense situation in Mozambique escalated into aggressive demonstrations earlier this week. This followed the alleged assassination of Elvino Dias, the attorney of Mr Mondlane, as well as another political officer, Paulo Guambe, who were reported to have been shot in their vehicle in Maputo, the capital city, last Friday – reputedly by security personnel. Nevertheless, these security officers have emphatically refuted any misconduct.
Prior to these tragic incidents, Mr Mondlane had already pronounced his triumph in the election. He insinuated that the deaths of his associates were instigated by political conspiracies since they were in the process of proposing a legal opposition to the election, prompted by the initial results.
On Monday, numerous Mozambicans participated in resistance demonstrations in Maputo, Beira, and Nampula, as cited by regional news outlets. Reports confirmed the arrest of scores of individuals with at least 16 injured and hospitalised.
Various international bodies and authorities, including former Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, the African Union, the United Nations, the US, and the EU, publicly protested the homicides, piling pressure on the Mozambican officials to ensure justice prevails. Laura Ballarín, the foremost figure of the EU’s election monitoring mission in Mozambique, urged the domestic authorities to promptly investigate the appalling incident, identify those responsible and see to it that they face the consequences.
Mr Mondlane has organised a national strike set for Thursday and Friday in opposition to the supposed falsification of the election, indicating that the large-scale rallies would pay tribute to the deceased Mr Dias and Mr Guambe.
As per Mozambique’s electoral commission, 43 per cent of the 17 million registered electorates in Mozambique were part of the election.