Mozambique: Opposition calls for capital to shut down over election results

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Mozambique: Opposition calls for capital to shut down over election results

9:04 CAT | 28 Nov 2023

Screen grab: Venancio Mondlane / Facebook

Hundreds of Renamo supporters marched through the streets of Maputo on Tuesday, for the first time since Frelimo was proclaimed the winner of the local elections, shouting “you will not govern” and with candidate Venâncio Mondlane calling for the capital to come to a stand-still.

“The time has come for the people to prove that they are in power,” warned Venâncio Mondlane, addressing the crowd waiting for him as he left the first protest march in Maputo after the election results were announced by the Constitutional Council (CC) on Friday.

“Let’s all agree for two days to stop everything in this city,” he said, in an appeal to all professional classes, guaranteeing that it is necessary to “paralyse the economy” in order to challenge the “fraud” in the local elections on 11 October and “return victory to the people”.

“The Constitution itself allows us the right to resist. If there are illegal orders, the people have the right to resist,” said Mondlane.

“We’ve marched a lot. We’ve marched too much. Now it’s time to paralyse the economy,” warned the candidate of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, the largest opposition party), who continues to claim to be an “elected mayor” in the capital.

At the rally in the Xipamanine Market, one of the largest in the Mozambican capital, which preceded a new march through the streets of the capital, Mondlane said that Renamo would file a criminal complaint with the Attorney General’s Office against the directors of the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) and the National Electoral Commission (CNE), for alleged “falsification and manipulation of results”.

On Friday, the Constitutional Council, the final court of appeal in electoral processes in Mozambique, proclaimed the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) the winner of the local elections in 56 municipalities, including Maputo, against the previous 64 announced by the CNE, with Renamo going from no wins to four, and ordered repeat elections in another four.

Mondlane said he will also file a criminal complaint against the seven judges of the Constitutional Council who unanimously approved the judgement proclaiming the election results, including those appointed by the opposition.

“Are we all going to be tied up, imprisoned, humiliated because of seven people? So, is it worth sacrificing seven people to save 30 million (…) Should these seven be quickly taken to the cells or not?” he asked, addressing the crowd that would shortly afterwards be travelling the streets of Maputo without incident, but shouting slogans against Frelimo in the intense heat, warning that “it will not rule” the city and that “the people are in charge”.

The day after the elections, Venâncio Mondlane guaranteed that he had won the vote in the capital, with 55% of the votes, through the parallel count carried out on the basis of all the original notices and minutes from the polling stations.

The Constitutional Council proclaimed Frelimo the winner of the local elections in Maputo but cut almost 30,000 votes that had previously been awarded to the ruling party in the capital by the CNE.

“The Constitutional Council has no power to change results. The only power it has is to validate the elections. It can say that the processes were well done or badly done, but it doesn’t have the power to change the results and take 30,000 from here and put 30,000 there,” said Mondlane.

According to the Constitutional Council ruling, Frelimo retained its victory, but with 206,333 votes and 37 mandates. Razaque Manhique, Frelimo’s front-runner, was proclaimed the new mayor of Maputo, but on 26 October, the CNE had awarded victory to Frelimo with 234,406 votes and 43 seats.

“The Constitutional Council is trying to convey the idea that they are superior. Are they superior to the Supreme Court? Then we want the judges of the Constitutional Council to sit in the dock and be tried in the Supreme Court,” Mondlane announced, recognising that it was believed that this body “was the hope of the people” after several appeals by opposition parties alleging the use of “false” minutes and notices in the count.

“We want this Constitutional Council to be annihilated, removed, because it doesn’t serve the people,” he said.

Source: Lusa