Mozambique Elections: NGO hails youth election protests as ‘extremely positive”

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Mozambique Elections: NGO hails youth election protests as ‘extremely positive”

9:51 CAT | 26 Oct 2023

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

The Institute for Multiparty Democracy (IMD), a Mozambican non-governmental organisation, has hailed as “extremely positive” the participation of young people in the marches taking place in the country to protest against the official results of the local elections on 11 October.

“Having young people demanding rights on the street is extremely positive (…) and political parties must capitalise on this massive involvement of young people in demanding rights because they are effectively the people who can transform national politics,” said IMD programme coordinator Lorena Mazive on the sidelines of a debate on the “Youth Agenda in Local Government”.

Opposition parties, especially the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), have been organising marches across the country to challenge the results of the October 11 elections, bringing together thousands of mostly young people to denounce the alleged “mega fraud” in the vote, giving victory for the most part to the party already in power.

“If young people already have this vision of demanding rights, it means that they are also capable of deciding, because they know what is best for them and know what is necessary for a normal society to function,” Mazive said.

The Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), the third parliamentary force, called on more young people to join the marches, considering that their participation in the protests is a “reflection of the Frelimo party’s poor governance”.

“The youth feels disadvantaged because they expressed their right to vote at the polls on October 11th and someone thinks they can kick the Constitution of the Republic in order to usurp this right,” the MDM’s Saíde Abílio said.

Regarding the participation of young people in the marches, Renamo, the largest opposition party, considered that the images circulating on social media “speak for themselves”, reiterating that “no one forced any young person to take to the streets” to challenge the electoral results, according to Zacarias Silvestre from the Renamo Youth League.

The Mozambique Youth Organization (OJM), the youth wing of Frelimo (Mozambique Liberation Front, in power), asked young people not to promote “confusion”, considering the marches “unnecessary” pending the official results.

“Do not create unnecessary confusion, my young brothers (…) Confusion will not solve the problem,” said Silva Livone, secretary general of the OJM, asking for calm because “the nation will not end with these elections”.

The Mozambican government yesterday appealed for calm, while saying that the marches taking place in the country were to be seen as “completely normal”, as long as the law is respected.

The sixth municipal elections in Mozambique took place in 65 municipalities across the country on October 11, including 12 new municipalities, which went to vote for the first time.

According to intermediate district and provincial results for 65 municipalities recently released by the STAE, Frelimo won in 64 and MDM in one – Beira.

At least five district courts have already recognized irregularities in the elections and ordered the repetition of various electoral actions, with the electoral bodies and the party in power in some cases submitting appeals to the Constitutional Council (CC) to challenge the sentences, rulings and orders of the district courts.

The CC, which is exclusively responsible for validating elections in Mozambique, today began deliberations on the process, having already annulled a decision by a district court to invalidate the vote in Chokwé.

Source: Lusa