Mozambique Elections: Podemos files appeal to Constitutional Council against election results

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Mozambique Elections: Podemos files appeal to Constitutional Council against election results

12:42 CAT | 28 Oct 2024

Screen grab: STV

The Podemos party filed an appeal with the Constitutional Council against the results of the general elections in Mozambique on October 9, claiming that candidate Venâncio Mondlane won the presidential election.

“We present what is our parallel count,” explained Dinis Tivane, from Podemos, after submitting the appeal to the Constitutional Council on Sunday, claiming that after counting around 70% of the original minutes [actas] and notices [editais], these “give victory with 53.30%” to Venâncio Mondlane.

Tivane explained that the conclusion is the result of the analysis of the minutes and notices collected at the polling stations – around 300 kilograms of material delivered to the Constitutional Council – which indicate, he also said, a victory for Podemos in the legislative elections, with 138 seats, against 91 for the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo).

READ: CIP Mozambique Elections | Breaking news: Podemos appeals to the CC against CNE declaring Frelimo win.

On Thursday, Mozambique’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced the victory of Daniel Chapo, supported by Frelimo (the party in power since 1975) in the election for President of the Republic on October 9, with 70.67% of the votes.

Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos, an extra-parliamentary party), came in second place, with 20.32%, but claims not to recognize these results, which still have to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.

According to the CNE’s announcement, Frelimo also strengthened its parliamentary majority, increasing from 184 to 195 deputies (out of 250), and elected all 10 provincial governors in the country.

Over the weekend, several heads of state, including those of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Venezuela, as well as the Chinese government, congratulated “President-elect” Daniel Chapo.

The general elections on 9 October included the seventh presidential elections – in which the current head of state, Filipe Nyusi, who has reached the limit of two terms, has no longer run – as well as legislative elections and elections for provincial assemblies and governors.

On Thursday, before announcing the centralised results of the general count, the president of the CNE said that “during the day of voting and the vote counting process, several contentious proceedings were instituted in the judicial courts”, as well as “some that were channelled to the Constitutional Council”.

“These processes are expected to result in the appropriate decisions. However, the CNE is required by law to announce the results of the vote within 15 days of the vote (…), we could not wait for the decisions on these disputes,” said Carlos Matsinhe, admitting that these decisions “may have an impact on the results” announced by him on that day.

“The announcement of the results does not conclude the entire process, until the results have been validated and the winners have been announced,” Matsinhe added.

After the intermediate count, at the level of the 154 districts and then in the provinces, the CNE had 15 days to announce the official results, and it is now up to the Constitutional Council to announce the results, after also concluding the analysis of the appeals from the candidates and opposition parties, in this case without a defined deadline for this purpose.

In addition to Mondlane, the president of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, the current largest opposition party), Ossufo Momade, one of the four presidential candidates, said he does not recognize the election results announced by the CNE and called for the vote to be annulled.

Presidential candidate Lutero Simango, supported by the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), also rejected the results, considering them to have been “forged in the secretariat”, and promised “political and legal action” to restore the “popular will”.

The announcement of the results by the CNE triggered violent protests and clashes with the police in Mozambique, especially in Maputo, by pro-Mondlane demonstrators.