Mozambique: Renamo disrupts President’s State of the Nation Address – Watch

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Mozambique: Renamo disrupts President’s State of the Nation Address – Watch

2:11 CAT | 20 Dec 2023

Photo: Luisa Nhantumbo/Lusa

The parliamentary bench of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition force, booed and momentarily interrupted the Mozambican head of state during his annual State of the Nation address in parliament today.

Dressed in black shirts sporting slogans rejecting what they call a “mega-fraud” in the October 11 local elections, the deputies of the main opposition party turned their backs on the head of state when the president of parliament, Esperança Bias, called him to give his report.

Shouting and singing party songs, the Renamo deputies booed Filipe Nyusi, demanding the restoration of “electoral truth” and calling the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), the party in power, “thieves”.

“We want electoral truth,” shouted the deputies during Filipe Nyusi’s speech, despite Esperança Bias’ protestations.

“Trufufa, Trufufa, it’s Renamo that’s passing. But it’s Renamo who won,” sang the deputies, an excerpt from that party’s song that went viral during these elections.

“The people are listening and we will continue,” Filipe Nyusi said after briefly interrupting his speech, a situation that occurred at least three times. In fact, the Renamo deputies’ protest made it almost impossible to hear Filipe Nyusi’s speech.

Renamo has been leading protests across the country against what it calls mega-fraud in the October 11 local elections.

The Constitutional Council (CC), the body of last instance of electoral justice with competence to validate elections in Mozambique, proclaimed on 24 November Frelimo the winner of the local elections in 56 municipalities, against the previous 64, with Renamo winning four, and ordered elections to be repeated in four others.

The streets of some Mozambican cities, including Maputo, were taken over by consecutive opposition demonstrations against what they consider to have been a “mega-fraud” in the local elections process and the results announced by the CNE, also criticised by civil society and non-governmental organisations.

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