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Mozambique Elections: Public Prosecutor’s Office calls on young people to refrain from “demonstrations that violate the law”
5:08 CAT | 31 Oct 2024
File photo: Lusa
The Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) yesterday called on young people not to join “demonstrations that violate the law”, accusing the protesters who have been on the streets since the announcement of the election results of destroying infrastructure.
“As a guarantor of legality, the Attorney General’s Office discourages all citizens, in general, from organising and joining demonstrations that violate the law,” the office says in a statement distributed to the media on Thursday.
The issue at hand is the demonstrations that have been called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane to protest against alleged electoral fraud in the October 9 vote, events that culminated in violent clashes between the police and his supporters last week, with new actions planned from Thursday and for a week.
“Participants in the protests have been carrying out acts of vandalism of public and private property, burning down public buildings, placing barricades on public roads, preventing the free movement of people and goods, with serious consequences for the lives and integrity of people, as well as significant damage to the economy and to the security of the State,” says the PGR, recalling that “calls for insurrection and incitement to hatred are punishable by a prison sentence of up to eight years”.
On Thursday, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) of Mozambique announced the victory of Daniel Chapo, supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the party in power since 1975) in the election for President of the Republic on 9 October, with 70.67% of the votes, and the strengthening of Frelimo’s parliamentary representation.
Mondlane, the presidential candidate named by the CNE as the second most popular (20.32%), was the first to reject the numbers presented by the electoral body, calling for a week-long general strike starting on Thursday, demonstrations at district headquarters of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and marches to Maputo on November 7.
Initially, Mondlane, who is currently outside of the country, called for a “general strike” to protest the results, but after the murder of Elvino Dias, his lawyer, and Paulo Guambe, the leader of the Podemos party, which supports him, he called his supporters to the streets, leading to clashes between protesters and the police in several parts of the country, with deaths, injuries and arrests, in addition to shops being closed.
The Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), a Mozambican non-governmental organisation that monitors electoral processes, estimates that ten people died, dozens were injured and around 500 were arrested in the context of protests and clashes last week.
Yesterday afternoon, around forty opposition political parties, mainly extra-parliamentary, announced an “unprecedented alliance” to contest the results of the October 9 vote in Mozambique, promising to lead the demonstrations called by Mondlane from the grassroots.
READ: Mozambique Elections: Opposition parties will march for “electoral truth” – O País
Mozambique Elections: ‘Unprecedented alliance’ to contest election results – opposition
Source: Lusa
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