Mozambique: Court upholds request to halt second round of elections in Podemos

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Mozambique: Court upholds request to halt second round of elections in Podemos

3:16 CAT | 17 Jun 2025

File photo: AIM

The KaMavota court in Maputo city has upheld a request by Podemos member Alberto Ferreira to prevent the largest opposition political party from holding a second round of elections for secretary-general.

In a ruling dated 11 June, signed by judge Céndia Tomás and to which Lusa had access today, the court finds the precautionary measure to be admissible and has ordered the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos) party to refrain from holding a second round of elections for the party’s secretary-general position or from “any act that could jeopardise the election which has already taken place” until the court’s final decision.

The court justifies the decision, stating that “there are objective reasons capable of explaining the fair and well-founded fear that the defendant’s [Podemos] behaviour towards the plaintiff [Alberto Ferreira] causes and threatens to cause harm to his rights that will be difficult to repair”.

The same document indicates that the court has scheduled the 19th of this month for Podemos to present its adversarial response to the decision now taken.

At issue is an injunction filed to the KaMavota judicial court, in the city of Maputo, on May 29, by Alberto Ferreira, who is trying to prevent the holding of the second round for the election of the secretary-general of the Podemos party, arguing that he won the ballot, held on May 24 and 25, during the party’s central council, with 37% of the votes.

In the document that Alberto Ferreira submitted, he requested the “immediate suspension” of any attempt to call a second round of elections, arguing that it is against the statutes and that it “seriously undermines the institutional and democratic stability of the party”.

In response to the request, Podemos president Albino Forquilha asked, on June 2, for respect for the party’s bodies, after Alberto Ferreira had filed the injunction to block a second round of elections for a new secretary-general.

On June 3, Ferreira rejected any “disagreements” within the party after submitting a precautionary measure, stating that he would remain in the race.

“We just wanted to make sure whether we are right or wrong. We are all part of the party and we follow the party’s orders and the orders of our president, naturally. There are no external disagreements here, we cannot create too many controversies, we are all united, we are all on the same line, there are no contradictions,” Ferreira said.

“By submitting the precautionary measure we were just trying to make sure whether we or the others are right. A neutral, legally independent entity, which is within the Mozambican legal framework, can resolve and eliminate doubts, pure and simple,” he added.

Alberto Ferreira was a member of the parliamentary group of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) in the previous legislature, and is now a member of Podemos, the party he claims to have founded.

READ: Mozambique: Election of PODEMOS secretary-general annulled – AIM | Watch

Ferreirafile.int_ — *FILE – Alberto Ferreira [File photo: Integrity]*

Podemos, registered in May 2019, is made up of dissidents of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), and saw its popularity soar after announcing its support for Venâncio Mondlane’s candidacy for the presidency on 21 August 2024.

The “political agreement” came shortly after Mondlane had his coalition (CAD) rejected by the Constitutional Council for “irregularities”.

In the elections held on 9 October, Podemos, which had never had a member of parliament since its creation, became the largest opposition party in Mozambique, subsuming the status that had belonged to Renamo since the first multi-party elections in 1994.

In February of this year, Venâncio Mondlane and Podemos announced the end of their relationship, following accusations that the party had failed to honour the political agreement between the two parties.

READ: Mozambique: Podemos has transparency, though “some might not have it”

Source: Lusa