Mozambique Elections: Momade accepts Nyusi’s invitation to meet if all candidates participate

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Mozambique Elections: Momade accepts Nyusi’s invitation to meet if all candidates participate

2:04 CAT | 25 Nov 2024

File photo: DW

Renamo presidential candidate Ossufo Momade on Sunday accepted the invitation from the President of the Republic to a meeting on the post-election situation, as long as all four candidates participate.

“This meeting only makes sense if all candidates are present,” Renamo spokesperson Marcial Macome said after a meeting of the party’s political commission yesterday in Maputo, while admitting that, for security reasons, some candidates may choose to participate remotely.

Macome said that the “main points” that Renamo was taking to the meeting were the “annulment” of the electoral process involved in the October 9 elections, and that “all candidates recognize that this process was not free and fair, much less transparent.”

Presidential candidate Lutero Simango, who also heads the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (thus far the second largest opposition party), which has already called for the annulment of the general elections and a repeat of the vote on the same basis, has also accepted the invitation, on the same conditions

The position of Frelimo candidate Daniel Chapo regarding participation in the meeting has not yet been made known.

Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane demanded on Friday the immediate withdrawal of the legal proceedings brought by the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office against him, and his participation by virtual means, as conditions for taking part in the meeting.

Mondlane has also made his participation conditional on the “release of all those detained in connection with the demonstrations”, and “guarantees of political and legal security for actors and participants in the dialogue”.

“It is essential to immediately restore fundamental rights and freedoms that are currently limited in light of the illegal, biased and immoral legal proceedings brought by the PGR (…). This culminated in the freezing of their bank accounts and issuing of search and arrest warrants,” reads the document submitted by Mondlane to the presidency and the Attorney General’s office, along with more than 20 other demands.

The Mozambican head of state invited the candidates for the October presidential elections to a meeting on 26 November to “discuss the country’s situation in the post-election period”, sources from the candidates confirmed to Lusa.

The meeting will take place in Filipe Nyusi’s office in Maputo on Tuesday at 4:00 pm , according to the same sources, and will involve candidates Daniel Chapo, Venâncio Mondlane, Lutero Simango and Ossufo Momade.

Mondlane, who does not accept the results announced by the National Electoral Commission (CNE), which still have to be validated by the Constitutional Council, pointing out several irregularities in the electoral process, rejects a dialogue “behind closed doors” and with “little secrets”.

He disputes the awarding of victory to Daniel Chapo, candidate supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power), with 70.67% of the votes, according to the results announced on October 24 by the CNE.

“I promise that, until the last day of my term, I will use all my energy to pacify Mozambique (…). But for me to be successful in this mission, we need all of us and each one of you (…). Mozambicans must come together to solve the problems,” said Nyusi, whose last term ends in January, in a message to the nation on Tuesday, November 19.

Calling for “liberation from selfishness” in the post-electoral process, the head of state assured that the Government is open to finding “a solution” for the current situation, marked by strikes and demonstrations called by Venâncio Mondlane.

Source: Lusa