Daviz Simango: “Political map of the MDM not limited to Zambézia alone”

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Daviz Simango: “Political map of the MDM not limited to Zambézia alone”

1:02 CAT | 29 May 2018

DW / Daviz Simango, leader of the MDM, Mozambique's second-largest opposition party.

In about a month, MDM candidates will be announced in municipalities across Mozambique. Party leader Daviz Simango says that he will not change his strategy: winning at the local level remains a priority.

Mozambique is less than five months away from the municipal elections scheduled for October 10, 2018, when all eyes will be on the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM).

Until recently, the country’s second-largest opposition force piled up historic victories at local elections, but the return of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party, to the municipal elections and the loss of the municipality of Nampula to Renamo may dictate another scenario for the MDM.

The leader of the party, Daviz Simango, says, however, that he has no special strategy up his sleeve. “Every election is a different story,” he says in an interview.

DW Africa: Has the MDM decided who will be the candidates for the elections?

Daviz Simango (DS): There are many candidates, but in terms of actual choice it is up to the political commission to announce. I think that the commission will pronounce within a month or a month and a half. It is true that we have the challenge of the decentralisation law, which at times creates disruption, but the MDM is aware of the identification of its candidates, and this basic work is taking place at this time. I hope that, within thirty days, the political commission will finish this and make the public announcement.

*Mahamudo Amurane, the Nampula mayor killed in 2017*

DW Africa: Over the last few years, the MDM has been winning more and more municipalities. However, in the last by-election it lost, after a tense situation with the mayor of Nampula, Mahamudo Amurane, murdered in 2017. What special strategies does the MDM have after losing the municipality of Nampula?

DS: The MDM strategies are always the same. We have defined as priorities the conquest of local space, which are the municipalities, and this has been the strategy and our strongest weapon. The MDM has an active participation in the political life and in the construction of the Mozambican society. Being present in local decision-making bodies, where things happen, showing their activities, their good governance, is something that has been and continues to be our mark of existence as a political party. I think we will continue to work hard, because the electorate is dynamic, more demanding, believes that things can happen, and the MDM has to adapt to every moment of growth of the democratic process and to the citizen’s demand [for it] to respond to the demand and win the electorate and win the elections.

Image result for Daviz Simango: "Mapa polÃtico do MDM nÃ£o se cinge a ZambÃ©zia"

DW Africa: Even for the specific case of Nampula, don’t you have any special strategy to recover this municipality?

DS: The MDM is represented in the assembly and we have all followed the scenarios that have taken place. The MDM does not have a specific and localised strategy, our interest is to run in all municipalities and all of them will have to be treated in a balanced way, according to the statute, then moving on and expecting the voters to do their part, while we do our share of vote conquering.

DW Africa: The MDM has more municipalities in the province of Zambézia, Quelimane and Gurué. However, it also has strong support in the municipalities of Mocuba, Alto Mulocué and Milange, where it was not able to win in the last municipalities. What specific work are you doing in these places?

DS: The political map of the MDM is not limited to the province of Zambézia. If we were to think this way, we would be making a strategic error of planning for the MDM to conquer the municipalities. Therefore, we cannot look at Zambézia as the sole opportunity. In Xai-Xai, the opposition got seats for the first time and this was thanks to the MDM. Therefore, we value all the municipalities and the strategies are common: according to the local reality we set up some local-focused strategies, but without evading the global.

Deutsche Welle Mosambik BÃ¼rgermeister Manuel de AraÃºjo — *Manuel de Araújo, mayor of Nampula, a figure accepted in Zambézia*

DW Africa: I put this question because of the good results that the MDM has achieved in these municipalities in the last municipalities …

DS: Every election is a different story. If you look into it, there are results that the MDM achieved in Maputo and in Maputo province, which no opposition party has ever achieved [our] democracy. We are talking about Xai-Xai, municipality of Inhambane, in municipalities of Sofala province, where we lost by just one seat. The same happened in Zambézia, in Milange and Mocuba. In Gurué, we had to go the second round. The big batteries of the party centred in Mocuba and we managed to win it in the second round, and we managed to win Nampula as well. I think that every election is a story, a new fact – the electorate is unpredictable. So the MDM cannot be tied to a yard, instead of looking around the yard.

Source: Deutsche Welle