Mozambique: Presidential hopeful Mondlane ordered to stop ‘incitement to violence’

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Mozambique: Presidential hopeful Mondlane ordered to stop ‘incitement to violence’

6:42 CAT | 15 Oct 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

Mozambique’s attorney general has ordered presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane to refrain from “social unrest and incitement to violence”, pointing out that the politician committed the crime of disobedience by declaring himself the winner of the presidential elections on 9 October.

“The order is the result of the repeated wave of social unrest, public disobedience, disrespect for state bodies and incitement and disinformation perpetrated by the presidential candidate, Mr Venâncio António Bila Mondlane, at rallies, on social networks and other digital platforms,” the attorney general (PGR) said in a statement sent to Lusa on Tuesday.

“Despite [previously] having already been intimidated by the public prosecutor’s office [for other acts], the stance shown by Venâncio António Bila Mondlane in reiterating the practice of behaviour that violates the principles and ethical-electoral norms is worrying,” reads the note.

The PGR considers the information released by the politician about the results of the elections on the 9th not confirmed by the relevant electoral bodies and his self-proclamation as the winner of the presidential elections to be serious.

The self-proclamation of winners and the dissemination of unconfirmed information can generate misinformation and incite the public to acts of violence, which is completely contrary to public order and security, the statement said.

“It should be noted that the violation of the ethical norms of the electoral process, when it constitutes a call for disorder or insurrection or incitement to hatred, racism, violence or war, is punishable by a sentence of two to eight years, if not more serious,” said the PGR.

Venâncio Mondlane said this Monday that the mid-term results of the general elections released in recent days by the Mozambican electoral bodies represent a ‘falsehood’ and ‘fraud’, reaffirming that he was the ‘unequivocal winner’ of Wednesday’s vote.

“We are seeing a lot of concern from the people about the mid-term results that are being released, which clearly show the falsity, fraud and deceit of the most shameful level of the regime,” said Venâncio Mondlane, in a statement that followed the release of results by the district and provincial election commissions since Saturday.

These results, with the exception of the city of Beira – which gave the victory to Mondlane – have confirmed the candidate Daniel Chapo as the winner, as well as the party that supports him, in the legislative elections, the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power), in both cases above 50% of the votes.

Venâncio Mondlane, who has the support of the extra-parliamentary Podemos party in this electoral process, after having left Renamo, the largest opposition party, in May, assures that he is carrying out a parallel count of the votes in these elections, based on the minutes and notices collected from polling stations across the country, and therefore claims that the intermediate tabulation results that have been announced by the district and provincial electoral bodies are ‘false and flawed’.

In addition to Venâncio Mondlane and Daniel Chapo, running for country’s president were Lutero Simango, supported by the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM, the third parliamentary party), and Ossufo Momade, supported by the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo).

According to electoral legislation, the tabulation of provincial results should have been finalised by the end of Monday, and the tabulation of the country’s 154 districts was completed over the weekend.

The publication of the results of the presidential election by the National Electoral Commission, if there is no second round, takes up to 15 days (counting from the closing of the polls), before they are validated by the Constitutional Council, which has no deadlines for proclaiming the official results after analysing any appeals.

Source: Lusa