Mozambique Elections: Nyusi to meet presidential candidates on Tuesday – Lusa

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Mozambique Elections: Nyusi to meet presidential candidates on Tuesday – Lusa

11:41 CAT | 22 Nov 2024

File photo: DW

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

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

On Tuesday (19-11), the Mozambican president invited the four presidential candidates, including Venâncio Mondlane, to a meeting, saying that the violent post-election demonstrations were causing chaos and that “spreading fear in the streets” was weakening the country.

“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,” Nyusi said in a message to the nation.

Calling for “liberation from selfishness” in the post-electoral process, the head of state, whose term ends in January, reaffirmed that the government was open to finding “a solution” for the current situation, marked by strikes and demonstrations called by Venâncio Mondlane.

“We also need the various candidates for President of the Republic. We need the involvement of Lutero Simango, Daniel Chapo, Venâncio Mondlane and Ossufo Momade. We need the involvement of their collaborators and supporters,” Nyusi said.

Mondlane announced on Thursday, before the date of the meeting was publicly announced, that he would accept the invitation.

“I, Venâncio Mondlane, the winning candidate in the 2024 presidential elections, unreservedly accept this dialogue, I accept this roundtable (…). But this dialogue, like any dialogue, like any negotiation, like any type of institutional meeting, must have an agenda,” the presidential candidate announced in a broadcast on the social network Facebook.

In order “not to go to the meeting in a vacuum, without any agenda”, he announced that he would submit to the office of the Presidency of the Republic in the early hours of this Friday a letter with a proposal, which he described as supported by the contributions of Mozambicans contesting the announced results of the October 9 general elections. Those contributions, he said, were summarized in around 20 points, which he would also announce publicly and which “represent the aspirations of the Mozambican people”.

“Forty thousand people wrote [e-mails] to me and everything is summarized in the letter that will be submitted to the Presidency of the Republic,” Mondlane said.

“Mozambique’s sovereignty lies with the people, so it is the people who determine what the agenda of this dialogue should be,” he stressed.

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

“Open dialogues, to which the press has access, to which civil society has access, to which international mediators have access. We are going to make history,” the candidate added.

Mondlane claims to be outside Mozambique for security reasons, and is currently the target of several legal proceedings initiated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, including charges of conspiracy to stage a coup d’état.

Mondlane disputes the awarding of victory in the presidential race to Frelimo candidate Daniel Chapo with 70.67% of the votes, as per the results announced by the CNE on October 24.

Source: Lusa