Mozambique Elections: Court suspends Nampula mayor from office – Lusa report

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Mozambique Elections: Court suspends Nampula mayor from office – Lusa report

1:46 CAT | 20 Dec 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only . [File photo: VOA Portugues]

The Judicial Court of Nampula province in northern Mozambique has suspended Paulo Vahanle, the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) mayor of Nampula city, from official duties, accusing him of “incitement to collective disobedience”.

A document from the criminal investigation section of the Judicial Court of Nampula, to which Lusa had access on Tuesday, announces that “the defendant, Paulo Vahanle, has been suspended from exercising a profession or activity whose exercise depends on a public title or on an authorization or approval from the public authority, for a period of four months”.

In the document, dated November 22, the court considers that Paulo Vahanle has been leading protests that attack the “right to life”, considering that there is a need to “suspend his right to demonstrate”.

“Under the express guidance of the defendant, [citizens of this city] took to the streets to express their disgust at the publication of the election results and, as a result of these demonstrations, acts of vandalism occurred that culminated in physical attacks that led to the death of some citizens,” the court document reads.

The court’s decision also maintains that the right to demonstrate is constitutional, but can be “limited” to safeguard “other rights or interests protected by the Constitution”.

In one of his last public appearances at a rally on the eve of the announcement of the electoral results, Vahanle caught public attention by suggesting that communities prepare homemade arrows, an episode that he would later justify as “symbolic”, since the object appears on the party’s flag.

Reacting to the local media yesterday, Vahanle once again mentioned claimed this was a metaphor, and that his suspension was politically motivated.

“Those who should be held responsible for the riots that are happening now are the National Elections Commission (CNE), the PRM (police) and others,” the now-suspended mayor declared.

The mayor of Nampula, who was due to leave office in mid-January, has held the position since 2018.

Vahanle ascended to the position after winning the mid-term election of March 2018, following the shooting murder, in October 2017, of his Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) predecessor Mahamudo Amurane, and won again in the local elections of October the same year.

In the municipal elections of October 11th, which also saw him as a candidate for Renamo, the electoral bodies presented Frelimo as the municipality winner, with Vahanle promoting protest marches against the results, as his party did in several other places.

In addition to Paulo Vahanle, Raul Novinte, mayor of Nacala Porto, also elected by the Renamo list in Nampula, was removed from office, accused of “incitement to collective disobedience in a contest with public instigation of crime”.

In Novinte’s case, in addition to being removed, the Nacala-Porto court ordered his house arrest.

Mozambique’s Constitutional Council (CC) on 24 November proclaimed the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) the winner of the 11 October municipal elections in 56 municipalities, against the previous 64 announced by the CNE, with Renamo winning four, and ordered re-runs in four other municipalities.

READ: CIP Mozambique Elections: Nacala (Renamo) mayor under house arrest

Source: Lusa