The premises of the Embassy of Mozambique in Lisbon are too small for the dozens of voters who are choosing the future President and Government of their country of origin on Wednesday, in an orderly and cheerful manner.
“I voted wholeheartedly,” Nelson Salimo, a 34-year-old Mozambican who has been in Portugal for five years, told the Lusa news agency, with a purple index finger, just like the other voters, who are thus prevented from voting again.
For this voter, voting “can make all the difference” and that’s why by mid-morning he had already exercised his civic right and duty.
Nelson Salimo expects “more action and less rhetoric” from the elected representatives and, asked about the priorities they should realise, he said: “The difficulties are immense. Elections can help bring about change”.
Larissa, 22, who has been in Portugal for three years, voted for the first time today and was convinced that “every vote is a contribution to the common good”.
She voted for a politician who, she believes, “is a good person”, a characteristic she considers important. But she now hopes that the winners will roll up their sleeves, because “there is a lot to do for the well-being of the people”.
“In Mozambique there is hunger, there is poverty, there is a lack of hygiene. We need to improve the conditions in which many Mozambicans live,’ she says.
Paulo Muchanga, 26, is less optimistic: “I’m not convinced that anything will change. But it wouldn’t sit well with my conscience if I didn’t do my duty to bring about change.”
He hopes that those elected “actually improve the lives of the Mozambican people, that they focus much more on the problems of the people and less on politicking,” said this Mozambican, who has been living in Portugal for eight years.
“For the conditions of Mozambicans to improve, we need better salaries and drinking water and an end to hunger and poverty,” he says.
Afonso Bragança, 22, voted for the first time in these elections and now hopes that they will bring about a change that will improve the lives of those living in his home country.
Having lived in Portugal for three years, he hopes that, among other issues, future ministers will “put an end to kidnappings, which are jeopardising security and causing many foreigners to stop being interested in investing in Mozambique”.
“Unfortunately I didn’t see this issue in the election campaigns, but I still hope that those who are elected will do something,” he says.
And he is a believer in politics and politicians, because otherwise he wouldn’t have wasted his time voting.
Voters had to wait some time to cast their ballots, waiting in waiting rooms and even on the stairs to the polling station.
‘Satisfied’ with this strong turnout, the supervisor for these elections in Greater Lisbon, Florêncio Papelo, told Lusa that everything was running smoothly, but that there was a visible increase in participation compared to the last general elections in 2019.
“I was here and I remember it perfectly. There’s no comparison,” he said, pointing to the room full of voters waiting their turn to cast their ballots.
Next to the entrance of the building where the embassy is located, two A4 sheets of paper present the presidential candidates and the parties that are in the race.
There are 1,177 Mozambicans registered to vote in Portugal, who will be able to exercise their choice at 13 polling stations: six in the North and seven in Lisbon, the Centre and the South.
In Mozambique, polling stations began opening at 7am (6am in Lisbon) today, with slight delays at some points.
The National Electoral Commission (CNE) has registered 17,163,686 voters for this vote, including 333,839 who will be voting in seven African and two European countries.
Today’s general elections include the seventh presidential elections – for which the current head of state, Filipe Nyusi, who has reached the constitutional limit of two terms, is no longer running – at the same time as the seventh legislative elections and the fourth elections for provincial assemblies and governors.
Running for the Presidency of the Republic are Lutero Simango, supported by the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM, the third largest parliamentary force), Daniel Chapo, with the support of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power since 1975), Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the extra-parliamentary Podemos party, and Ossufo Momade, with the support of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, the largest opposition party).
