Mozambique: Judge restricts coverage of election fraud trial
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Frelimo’s candidate for the October 9 presidential election, Daniel Chapo, is undertaking a tour of several African countries. This Wednesday, he met the Angolan and MPLA president, João Lourenço. In a press interview, Chapo stated that he expects the support of the MPLA in the general elections in Mozambique.
Interviewed by Deutsche Welle (DW), Frelimo spokesperson Ludmila Maguni spoke about the meaning of this support and other relevant issues.
DW Africa: What are the objectives of Daniel Chapo’s travels as Frelimo candidate?
Ludmila Maguni (LM): The work trips as the party’s candidate, initially to those sister parties with which Frelimo has been working, in the first instance is presenting him as the party’s candidate for these October elections and transmitting his thoughts about the governance process, the situation in the country, among others. So, basically this is the moment when he introduces himself to the friendly parties with whom we have been working.
DW Africa: What did Daniel Chapo mean when he said that Frelimo needs the support of the MPLA? What kind of support would that be?
LM: As you know, Frelimo and MPLA are sister parties. In electoral processes and other activities, we have worked very closely. I think it is in this sense that he talks about support. We followed almost the same path in leaving the colonization process, but we think that we are also parties that have been governing since the country’s independence. So, we have more or less similar ideas in what we think about development. And I think that it is this type of support that we can count on from all sister parties in the region and outside the region, not just the MPLA brothers.
DW Africa: There is criticism that this proximity between Frelimo and the MPLA can be seen as a way of perpetuating power. How does Frelimo respond to these criticisms?
LM: But how come, to perpetuate power? We are entering an electoral process, which is a democratic process, in which the people decide who will govern. We are, at the moment, finalizing our manifesto, which we will present during the electoral campaign and, based on this, all those who participate in the electoral process will be able to choose the manifesto that they think best represents them. So, the process is democratic. We are not perpetuating power, the choice is made at the ballot box.
DW Africa: How does Frelimo respond to criticism that Daniel Chapo is already carrying out a pre-campaign campaign?
LM: Well, the presentation of the campaign itself is when we go out to request votes. At the moment, we are not making any request for votes, we have just been presenting the candidate. He talks about his journey to date and what he thinks about the country. So, we are restricting it to presentation of the candidate, and not to a request for votes.
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