Mozambique Elections: Constitutional Council announces four victories for Renamo – AIM

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Mozambique Elections: Constitutional Council announces four victories for Renamo – AIM

7:15 CAT | 24 Nov 2023

Photo: Lusa

Mozambique’s Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, on Friday ruled that, in the 11 October municipal elections, the main opposition party, Renamo, had won in four municipalities which last month the National Elections Commission (CNE) had awarded to the ruling Frelimo Party.

The most important of these is the city of Quelimane, capital of the central province of Zambezia. The CNE had claimed that Frelimo beat Renamo here by 38,595 votes to 36,399. But when the Constitutional Council recounted the votes, it found that Renamo had 39,021 and Frelimo only 35,973.

Renamo’s number of seats on the Quelimane municipal council rose from 22 to 23, while Frelimo’s fell from 23 to 22. The Renamo mayor of Quelimane, Manuel de Araujo, has thus won a further five year term of office.

The result is a personal triumph for Araujo, who is one of the Renamo leaders who has spearheaded the string of protest marches against what Renamo considers a “mega-fraud”. He has an enormous personal following in Quelimane, and the welcome he received earlier this month on his return from a trip abroad completely blocked the main streets of the city.

The Constitutional Council also found that Renamo had defeated Frelimo in Chiure municipality, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. Chiure is a town won by Renamo in the previous municipal elections, in 2018. When the CNE claimed that this time Frelimo had won, serious rioting broke out and the police shot dead at least one Renamo demonstrator.

The Constitutional Council checked the results sheets from Chiure and found that Renamo had won 12,230 votes, not the 11,766 claimed by the CNE. Frelimo’s vote fell from 12,503 to 11,829. The votes for the second opposition party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) rose from 479 to 579.

The Chiure municipal assembly now has 12 Renamo and 11 Frelimo members and one from the MDM. The Renamo mayor of Chiure, Alicora Ntutunha, has won a second term.

The Constitutional Council also found that the CNE had massively distorted the results in the town of Alto Molocue, in Zambezia province. The CNE had given Frelimo 13,003 votes, but on checking the polling station results sheets, the number fell to 9,246. The Renamo vote rose by more than 50 per cent, from 6,078 to 9,353, while the MDM vote almost tripled, rising from 249 to 731.

There is a long history of electoral fraud in Alto Molocue, but this time the fraudsters were caught. The new Alto Molocue municipal assembly will have 12 Renamo and 11 Frelimo members, and one from the MDM. It will have a new mayor, Otilio Nunequele from Renamo.

The most surprising Renamo victory was in the town of Vilankulo, in the southern province of Inhambane. The whole of Inhambane used to be regarded as a Frelimo stronghold. But the Constitutional Council found that this time in Vilankulo the CNE had taken about 1,000 votes away from Renamo and given them to Frelimo.

When the Council checked the results, the Frelimo vote fell from 11,080 to 10,138, while the Renamo vote rose from 9,798 to 10,740. The new municipal assembly will have 12 Renamo and 11 Frelimo members, under a Renamo mayor, Joaquim Quinito Vilankulo.

The bad news for Frelimo does not end there. The Constitutional Council found that in four municipalities the results were so corrupted that the elections must be held again, in whole or in part.

The worst situation was in the town of Marromeu, in Sofala province, on the south bank of the Zambezi. The electoral frauds practiced in Marromeu had such an influence on the exercise of the popular will at the ballot box, that the Council declared the whole election null and void.

In the port city of Nacala, and in the towns of Gurue and Milange, in Zambezia, the Constitutional Council ordered the elections to be repeated in several polling stations.

This affects 18 Nacala polling stations where 12,893 voters are registered. In Gurue, the election must be repeated at 12 polling stations, where 8,647 voters are registered.

In Milange, only three polling stations must rerun the election. 2,397 voters are registered at these stations.

The numbers of voters who will be asked to vote again, are quite enough to flip the results in all three municipalities, taking them out of Frelimo control.

The Constitutional Council also checked the results in Maputo and the neighbouring city of Matola. Renamo had claimed victory in both cities, supported by a parallel vote count by credible observer groups.

However, the Constitutional Council found that, although large numbers of votes had been fraudulently subtracted from Renamo, the true results (according to the Council’s count of the results sheets) still left Frelimo in control of both municipal assemblies.

In Maputo, the Renamo vote rose from 134,511 to 163,584, while the Frelimo vote fell from 235,406 to 206,333. Frelimo lost six seats in the municipal assembly to Renamo.

In Matola, the Renamo vote rose from 130,687 to 158,228, while the Frelimo vote fell from 207,261 to 178,090. The MDM vote rose from 13,204 to 14,850. Frelimo loses six seats in the municipal assembly, while Renamo gains five and the MDM one.

In the adjacent municipality of Marracuene, the count by the Constitutional Council showed that Frelimo had won 32,609 votes, and not the 34,441 claimed by the CNE. But Frelimo still enjoyed a majority on the Assembly (24 seats to 19 for Renamo and three for the MDM).

Even in the Frelimo stronghold of Xai-Xai, capital of Gaza province, Frelimo lost thousands of stolen votes. Its vote fell from 40,391 to 37,507, while the Renamo vote rose from 6,923 to 9,903. The new municipal assembly has 34 Frelimo, nine Renamo and two MDM members.

In every municipality where the Constitutional Council checked the results sheets, Frelimo lost votes and Renamo gained votes.

Nothing like this has ever happened before in a Mozambican election.