Mozambique: MDM leader calls for repeat of elections as only way to end crisis – Watch

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: MDM leader calls for repeat of elections as only way to end crisis – Watch

4:46 CAT | 03 Dec 2024

Screen grab: Fernando Bismarque/Facebook

The leader of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) and presidential candidate Lutero Simango argued on Tuesday that a repeat of last October’s general elections is the only way for the country to end the current crisis, with the current governing party, Frelimo, going into opposition.

“The political situation that is happening today in Mozambique is due to the intolerance and politics of revenge that they have installed in the country over the course of 50 years. And Mozambique needs new paths, new directions, to reunite the Mozambican family and create conditions for there to be, in fact, true national reconciliation in Mozambique. And this is only possible with a new political format in which Frelimo is in opposition,” Simango said.

The presidential candidate and leader of the party which is currently the third largest force in the Mozambican parliament, took the position when speaking in Maputo at a round table to discuss ways to “promote peace in the context of post-electoral tension”, an event hosted by non-governmental organization Sala da Paz, following more than 40 days of protests over the announced results of the October 9 general elections.

“Today, with the demonstrations […], everyone is beginning to believe that our country needs reforms. It really needs changes. The elections that took place this year were, in fact, manipulated. In fact, the results that were announced by the National Electoral Commission do not reflect the will of the voters expressed at the ballot box,” added Simango.

He once again argued that “there are only two possible paths” to emerge from the current post-electoral “impasse”.

“The first option is to recount the votes, which means recounting the 26,000 polling stations and comparing them with the ballot papers, to see if what is in the ballot boxes actually corresponds to the ballot papers and the minutes and to see who really won. And we are all fully aware that by recounting the votes we will verify the discrepancies, we will verify the differences in the numbers, which resulted not only from ballot box stuffing, but also from the falsification of the ballot papers and minutes,” Simango pointed out.

“Do we really have to accept [electoral] results that do not correspond to the will of the people? There is only one answer. No, no, no,” Simango retorted.

Therefore, he stressed, “there is only one option left”, which is “to annul the elections and repeat them”, leaving, in this scenario, the “legal vacuum” of the management of the coming months to be clarified, taking into account the need to prepare for a new vote.

“According to our laws, the legislative term of the Assembly of the Republic, as well as the other terms of office of the elected representatives, only ends when the new members take office. If the new members do not take office because the elections were annulled, will the country have a legal vacuum? Will our country no longer be able to be governed,” Simango asked.

Simango, who is also a member of parliament elected by the MDM, argued that the current legislative term “only ends when the new legislature takes office”, and therefore “legislative governance will never suspend its function”.

“Perhaps we can discuss who will manage the Mozambican state, to ensure that Mozambicans can exercise their civic right to vote again,” he added.

He also pointed out that it is more important to “discuss the causes” of the protests against the elections that have been taking place in Mozambique for over 40 days, “and not the consequences”.

“And the first major change that Mozambicans must achieve is to eliminate the dominant party-state aspect (…) For there to be change, elections need to be repeated,” Lutero Simango said.

At least 76 people have died and a further 240 have been injured by gunfire in Mozambique in 41 days of protests against the election results, according to the Mozambican non-governmental organization (NGO) Plataforma Eleitoral Decide.

According to the report released by the electoral monitoring platform, which shows data from October 21 to December 1, there are also records of “more than 1,700 people injured from various causes” throughout the country in these protests, and arrests estimated at “more than 3,000”.

Source: Lusa