MDM divided over Nampula candidate

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MDM divided over Nampula candidate

12:34 CAT | 01 Dec 2017

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The opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) is suffering serious divisions over the choice of a candidate to stand in the mayoral by-election in the northern city of Nampula, scheduled for 24 January, reports Thursday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”.

The by-election was precipitated by the assassination of Mayor Mahamudo Amurane on 4 October. Amurane was elected on the MDM ticket in the municipal elections of 2013, but serious divergences between the mayor and the MDM leadership came to the surface in the months prior to his death.

When MDM members in Nampula city met on 4 November to choose a candidate for the by-election, two names were put forward – a former Nampula municipal councillor, Carlos Saide Chaure, and an MDM parliamentary deputy Rachade Carvalho. When the names were put to a vote, Carvalho won easily with 81 votes to 25 for Chaure.

But a few days later, says “Mediafax”, the MDM leadership annulled this vote, and the party’s general secretary, Luis Boavida, decided there should be a “public consultation” among MDM members in Nampula, but this time with a third name, that of Fernando Bismarque, an MDM parliamentarian and former journalist . But the result was the same and Rachade Carvalho won for the second time.

Also Read: Simango demands investigation into Amurane’s death, slams “misinformation by detractors”

Despite this, reports circulated in some of the media, apparently at Boavida’s instigation, that the candidate was Chaure. Rumours circulated about money changing hands, again involving Boavida.

When “Mediafax” contacted Boavida, he categorically denied these stories, and claimed that Chaure’s election as candidate followed the same rules used by the MDM ever since its foundation.

The MDM political delegate for Nampula city, Luciano Tarieque, refused to comment on the case, saying that if the central bodies of the party had chosen Chaure “we have no way of refusing”.

Carvalho himself did not hide his disappointment at the behaviour of the party leadership. “I lament that things are happening which are contributing to the disappearance of the democratic principles we have defended so much”, he said.

Also Read: Nampula: Expect hard fought & closely watched election – By Joseph Hanlon

Nampula: Annulment of Américo Iemenle’s inauguration sought – Govt

Source: AIM