Mozambique elections: Renamo to contest election results in Constitutional Court

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Mozambique elections: Renamo to contest election results in Constitutional Court

3:19 CAT | 29 Oct 2019

File photo: Lusa

The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Mozambique’s main opposition party, will today contest with the Constitutional Council the results of the October 15 general elections, pointing out “several cases of irregularities” in the voting.

“We will appeal against the deliberation that approves the definitive results of these elections, which have experienced several irregularities since the voter registration itself, and which must be annulled,” party spokesman Venâncio Mondlane told Lusa.

The election results, announced by the National Election Commission (CNE) in Maputo on Sunday, gave the ruling Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) a huge advantage. Their candidate Filipe Nyusi was reelected for a second term as president, with 73% of the first-round votes.

Renamo points alleges irregularities recorded the electoral process including the alleged dismissal of the party’s candidacy delegates from polling stations and the lack of timely responses to party complaints on voting day, among others.

“These elections have had serious irregularities, and for this process to have been validated is not justified,” the representative of the main opposition party [mandatário] said, adding that the appeal would be a “test” of the new Constitutional Council’s new configuration following the departure of Hermenegildo Gamito and the appointment by the Mozambican head of state of Lúcia Ribeiro as chairman.

“This is the litmus test for us to see if anything has changed or if things continue to be the usual mess we all know at the CC,” Venâncio Mondlane said.

In the results announced on Sunday, the party ruling since independence in Mozambique has strengthened its presence in parliament and will have a majority of more than two-thirds of seats.

Frelimo managed to elect 184 out of 250 deputies, which represents 73.6% of seats, with 60 seats (24%) being allocated to Renamo and six seats (2.4%) to the MDM, the CNE announced.

Frelimo candidate Filipe Nyusi also won the presidential elections, and was re-elected for a second term in the first round with 73% of the vote.

In second place was Renamo candidate Ossufo Momade with 21.88%, and MDM leader Daviz Simango took third place with 4.38%. Mario Albino, candidate for the United Movement for Integral Salvation (AMUSI), obtained 0.73%.

The MDM, Mozambique’s third-largest parliamentary party, does not accept the results either, also alleging widespread fraud.

Both political parties announced several days ago that they disapproved of the way the electoral process had been managed, and their representatives in the CNE, as well as some members of civil society, voted against the final tabulation.

The results were approved at CNE’s Friday meeting with nine votes in favour and eight against.

Source: Lusa