Mozambique: Protests to continue until election results overturned – candidate

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Mozambique: Protests to continue until election results overturned – candidate

5:13 CAT | 08 Nov 2024

Screen grab: YouTube

Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who does not recognize the results announced in the general elections of October 9 in Mozambique, announced yesterday that protests will continue until the “electoral truth” is reinstated.

“As long as electoral truth is not restored, these demonstrations will not stop. We will occupy the city of Maputo until the will of the people is restored. Otherwise, the city of Maputo will be occupied indefinitely. Without a deadline. Until the election results are handed back. That is what we want,” he said.

Mondlane, who made the announcement in a live broadcast on Facebook, accused the police of looting commercial establishments and of having killed two people in the Maxaquene neighbourhood.

“The people are ready to take power, and they will take power. The time has come and the people have already taken power,” he stressed, referring to protesters on the streets of the Mozambican capital.

Addressing the security forces and the military, Mondlane urged them to stand by the people.

“We have many military personnel who are currently acting in an exemplary and patriotic manner. We have no record of any military personnel shooting at the people. Some police officers, on some streets, are collaborating with the people. Keep up the good work and pass the message on to other police officers,” he stressed.

The popular protests called for by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane were sparked by the National Electoral Commission’s (CNE) announcement on October 24 of the results of the October 9 elections, in which it attributed victory in the presidential election to Daniel Chapo, supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the party in power since 1975), with 70.67% of the votes.

According to the CNE, Mondlane came in second place, with 20.32%, but he has stated that he does not recognize the results, which still have to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.

After street protests that paralyzed the country, Mondlane again called on the population to stage a general strike lasting seven days, starting on October 31, with nationwide protests and a demonstration concentrated in Maputo called for Thursday, 7 November.

Thursday marked the eighth day of strikes and demonstrations across the country, with the majority of protests being suppressed by the police with gunfire and tear gas, while protesters blocked avenues, threw stones and set fire to public and private property.

Without revealing his location, Venâncio Mondlane has announced that he will not participate in the protests because the people have asked him not to.

“I am not there at the marches because the people asked me to [stay away]. The people said: ‘Venâncio, don’t move from where you are’. I am doing what the people are telling me to,” he explained.