Mozambique Elections: Renamo accuses Nyusi of pushing it into war – AIM

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Mozambique Elections: Renamo accuses Nyusi of pushing it into war – AIM

10:15 CAT | 30 Oct 2023

Photo: AIM

Ossufo Momade, leader of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, on Sunday accused President Filipe Nyusi of trying to push Renamo back to war in order to win a third term of office.

At a Maputo press conference, Momade promised that Renamo will continue to hold marches in all the municipalities where it believes it won the elections held on 11 October.

According to the preliminary results announced last Thursday by the National Elections Commission (CNE), Renamo did not win a single municipality. The CNE gave victory to the ruling Frelimo Party in 64 out of the 65 municipalities, and to the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) in the 65th, the central city of Beira.

But parallel vote counts organized by reputable observer groups indicate that Renamo won in several large cities, including Maputo, Matola, Nampula and Quelimane.

Momade denounced what he called “police violence” against Renamo demonstrations on Friday in Maputo, Nampula, Nacala and Quelimane.

“The brutal violence perpetrated by the police resulted in the deaths of citizens, including children, and serious injuries to others”, he accused. “It is inexplicable that, in this wave of state terrorism, citizens in civilian clothes are involved, shooting guns, as if they were mercenaries”.

Despite the Friday clashes, Momade pledged “We shall continue our marches until we have the results that reflect the popular will. The Mozambican pople gave a vote of confidence to Renamo. We shall continue to march”.

“I am not afraid”, he declared. “No dictator is going to silence the people’s will”.

He claimed that Nyusi had provoked the current situation. “He uses the defence and security forces to kill, and to force the people to accept what he wants. But we are not going to retreat”.

He claimed that Nyusi’s hidden intention is to secure a third term of office as President of the Republic.

“If Nyusi wants another term, it won’t be through Renamo”, said Momade. “He can’t use Renamo as a prop to force us to go to war. I’m not going to war, and Renamo isn’t going to war. We shall win our cause here, inside our cities, because the people want Renamo to govern the cities. That’s want they voted for”.

“Renamo will continue to fight to the end”, he warned. “We shall not retreat, because we have become used to Frelimo stealing elections since 1994, and nothing ever happened”.

There has been much speculation that Nyusi wants to stand for a third term of office in the presidential election scheduled for 2024. But Nyusi himself has never publicly mentioned the possibility.

For Nyusi to stand for a third term, the Constitution would have to be amended. Currently the Constitution states that nobody can hold more than two consecutive terms of office as President

Source: AIM