Mozambique Elections: Youth take to the streets in Maputo again

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Mozambique Elections: Youth take to the streets in Maputo again

9:08 CAT | 19 Oct 2023

Screen grab: Venâncio Mondlane / Facebook

Thousands of supporters of the main opposition party in Mozambique took to the streets of Maputo this Thursday to claim victory in the municipal elections on 11 October, in a march through the capital led by young people demanding “opportunities”.

“Youth, in fact, just want opportunities (…) I myself completed 12th grade years ago, but I don’t have money to go to college. But where am I going to get money to go to college if I don’t work “, asks, to Lusa, Abiba Abudo, 26 years old, among thousands of people who gathered, from 9:00 a.m., at the door of the city headquarters of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) to march through the capital, demanding the victory of the party’s candidate in the local elections in the city of Maputo, Venâncio Mondlane.

Displaying signs with messages such as “give us the keys to the municipality”, Renamo supporters, mostly young people, led by Venâncio Mondlane from the opening roof of his vehicle, travelled through the heart of the city of Maputo to the sound of party anthems , in addition to the legendary ‘Povo no Poder’, the famous song by the late social intervention rapper Azagaia and which is now the “rule” in marches in Maputo.

“We want to rejuvenate Mozambican politics,” says Elisa Adélia, 35 years old, a supporter of the party, who has been under the sun for hours, told Lusa, who also complains about the lack of jobs for this group.

In Mozambique, data from the latest population census (2017) released by the National Statistics Institute indicate that, in the universe of 32 million Mozambicans, around 9.4 million are young people, a third of whom have no employment, education or professional training.

“We, as youth, even have potential and strength of spirit, but we need the State to help us”, commented Jaime Rui, 31 years old, in the middle of the march.

For at least six hours, escorted by a police vehicle, Venâncio and his supporters crossed the main streets of the Mozambican capital, paralyzing traffic in certain parts of the city’s Baixa (CBD), where the candidate spoke demanding accountability for the perpetrators of the alleged vote fraud. of October 11th.

“The courts said that there were people who facilitated the fraud(…)We urge the Attorney General’s Office to hold these people accountable”, said Venâncio Mondlane, speaking from the roof of his car and drawing applause from thousands of people watching, including supporters and informal traders in downtown Maputo.

According to the intermediate tabulation notice presented on Monday by the electoral bodies in the Mozambican capital, the Frelimo list in the city of Maputo, led by Razaque Manhique, collected 235,406 votes (58.78%), that of Renamo, led by Venâncio Mondlane, 134,511 votes (33.59%) and that of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), led by Augusto Mbazo, 24,365 votes (6.8%).

In Maputo, some district courts have already annulled the ballot, alleging several irregularities, notably falsification of editais.

Of the 65 municipalities, at least two have already annulled, by court decision, the scrutiny in the municipality due to alleged irregularities, namely Cuamba, in the province of Niassa, and Chokwé, in the province of Gaza.

Source: Lusa