Mozambique tense after problem-riddled elections

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi

from ARIMANDO DOMINGOS in Maputo, Mozambique
MAPUTO, (CAJ News) INCUMBENT, Filipe Nyusi, is tipped to retain power following divisive polls in Mozambique.

Preliminary results after Tuesday’s vote indicated the leader of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) was ahead of closest rivals, Ossufo Momade and Daviz Simango.

The Joint Electoral Observation Platform projected a landslide victory for Nyusi, with 72 percent of the vote.

Momade, leader of the Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO) is placed second with 21 percent.

Simango, the Democratic Movement of Mozambique, is tipped to clinch 5,8 percent of the presidential election.

“This data is in line with the projections which are being shared by the press,” Felicidade Chirindza, Joint Electoral Observation Platform spokesperson, said in Maputo.

Tension has gripped Mozambique ahead of the announcement of results in the upcoming days.

Allegations of vote-rigging have marred the election and put to test a peace agreement signed by longtime rivals FRELIMO and RENAMO.

A private poll observer was murdered on the eve of Mozambique’s election, allegedly by police.

The insurgency by Islamists groups disrupted elections in the northern Cabo Delgado Province.

Momade said his party would reject the results of a rigged election.

“If these are manipulated results, we can never accept them,” he said after voting in the northern province of Nampula.

Nyusi won 57 percent of another contentious poll in 2014.

The then-leader of RENAMO, Afonso Dhlakama (now deceased) claimed the election was fraudulent.

This widened the rift with the FRELIMO-led government, resulting in sporadic attacks by militants in RENAMO’s ranks.

Relations between the rivals have been strained since independence from Portugal in 1975.

– CAJ News

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