Mozambique Elections: President’s silence ‘understandable’ before poll results finalised – analysts

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Mozambique Elections: President’s silence ‘understandable’ before poll results finalised – analysts

2:02 CAT | 30 Oct 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

Mozambican analysts consider it prudent that the president has not yet made any announcement about disturbances during the demonstrations against the results of the local elections because the vote has not yet been validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.

“The elections are not over yet, the President of the Republic [Filipe Nyusi] does not have to comment,” on the tension generated by the announcement by the National Elections Commission (CNE) of the results on Thursday, journalist and political analyst Fernando Lima told Lusa.

Lima stated that a position taken by the head of state would be interpreted as in favour of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), the party in power, which, according to the results announced by the CNE, won in 64 of the 65 municipalities.

“This President of the Republic is the president of one of the contenders in the elections [Frelimo], and I think it is important for him not to speak out, so as not to tip the balance in favour of the political formation he leads,” Lima said.

Fernando Lima noted that Filipe Nyusi had already called for compliance with the law in challenging the municipal electoral process and the use of peaceful means of protest.

Lima highlighted that, in general, the demonstrations against the results of the general elections have taken place normally, taking into account the history of violence by the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces in this context.

“Within the current situation, in which it seems to me that the demonstrations have been taking place, in general, very normally, I think that the President of the Republic also has to be discreet in his interventions,” Lima elaborated.

Gil Laurenciano, political analyst and professor at the Joaquim Chissano University (former Higher Institute of International Relations – ISRI), also thinks that the President of the Republic must wait for the validation and proclamation of the electoral results by the Constitutional Council before stating his position.

“He made all the appeals before the elections for everything to go well, and now I think he has to wait for the Constitutional Council,” Laurenciano declares.

Considering the excesses that normally characterize the actions of Mozambican authorities regarding the exercise of civic rights, such as demonstrations, the stance of the police and demonstration leaders has been “proportional”, Laurenciano continued.

“The incidents” seen so far “are normal in a context of crowd demonstrations,” he maintains.

Laurenciano highlighted the commitment of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party, to a peaceful challenge to the results of the vote.

“It would be worse if no one demonstrated,” because the demonstration “is a kind of valve, because in elections there are many frustrations, there are many expectations”.

According to the results announced by the CNE, Frelimo won in 64 of the 65 municipalities, with the exception of Beira, which was won by the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), the third-largest party in parliament.

Opposition parties, especially the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party, have been promoting marches contesting the results of the October 11 elections all over the country, bringing together thousands of people to denounce an alleged “mega fraud” in the ballot.

A police officer and a young man died during demonstrations against the results of the local elections in Nampula and Nacala, according to the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), a Mozambican non-governmental organization (NGO).

The officer was killed in retaliation for the shooting of a ten-year-old child as he left school, in an action that was part of the authorities’ reaction to the demonstrations against the local elections in the city of Nampula, in the province of the same name in the north of the country.

In the city of Nacala, also in Nampula province, a young man died after being hit by a blunt object in Nacala Central Market during skirmishes between people and the police, the CIP said. The deaths reported by the NGO were not confirmed by the authorities.

In both cities, commerce came to a standstill, with markets and commercial establishments closed.

In the city of Maputo, the Mozambican police fired tear gas at thousands of people demonstrating.

On Friday, the Mozambican police announced the injury of 10 people, all in the city of Nampula, and the arrest of another 70 in Nacala-Porto, Maputo, Quelimane and Nampula, where demonstrations took place.

The sixth municipal elections in Mozambique took place on October 11in 65 municipalities across the country, including 12 new municipalities where voting took place for the first time.

Source: Lusa