Renamo: "We are challenging legal thinking in the country" - Mozambique Elections
DW
Political coexistence between the Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo) and the opposition parties seems to be becoming increasingly difficult. The Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM) says that less than a week ago was the last time it was prevented from carrying out its political activity in the city of Xai-Xai.
MDM’s Alfeu Bila says that members of the Frelimo youth arm disrupted an opposition party meeting with horns and car noises.
The episode culminated in physical assaults. “They entered the MDM headquarters and tore down our flags and beat our members, and there were problems because nobody takes a beating lying down,” Alfeu Bila, provincial MDM head of mobilisation and propaganda of the MDM, explains.
Bila says that the attitudes of members of the Mozambican Youth Organisation are “undemocratic” and hopes that such episodes will not happen again in the run-up to local elections next year.
Frelimo denies
But Moisés Nhantsave, the mobilisation secretary for Frelimo in Gaza, denies that the party has any interest in disrupting the work of the MDM and other opposition parties.
“Accusing Frelimo is like when someone who doesn’t dance well blames the music,” Nhantsave counters. “They themselves may not be in a position to make a free, educational and respectful democracy.”
This is not the first time that the MDM and other opposition parties have complained about meetings, marches and rallies being disrupted. The parties also say they have difficulties in recruiting polling stations representatives for fear of reprisals.
Election Observation Team
A week ago, a joint election observation team was set up in Gaza for the upcoming local elections scheduled for 2018. The team’s coordinator, Fernando Nhatave, says that he is aware of the challenges to peaceful coexistence between political parties.
“Our province does have these skirmishes at campaign time,” Nhatave admits. The Mozambican Association for Development and Democracy delegate says the parties will be invited to meetings to be reminded “what ethics are, and the code of conduct they have signed”.
The initiative’s mentor is director of the Forum of Non-Governmental Organisations of Gaza Anastacio Matavel, who says that the players in the electoral process “lack knowledge of the law, and also of practical procedures”.
The Forum is therefore trying to involve the police and judicial institutions in the dialogue, to ensure that the elections and the run-up to them go smoothly.
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