Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane has called on Mozambicans to hold a general strike on Monday 21 October in protest at the alleged fraud in the 9 October general elections that took place throughout the country.
‘The time has come for the people themselves to show that they are in charge. We have declared a national and general strike for Monday: all public and private activities will be paralysed. We will be paralysed throughout the country, raising placards to make known our repudiation of this regime and these corrupt electoral bodies,’ declared Venâncio Mondlane, in a video available on his social network Facebook.
The stance follows the release of the mid-term results, in which the provincial bodies confirmed Daniel Chapo and the party that supports him, the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), as the winners of the general elections.
Mondlane claims that the elections were ‘fraudulent’, stating that Podemos, the party that supports him, has the minutes and public notices that prove it is the ‘unequivocal winner’ and accusing the justice bodies of serving the ruling party, including the police.
‘We know that there are armoured vehicles deployed in every corner. In Maputo city, every neighbourhood is full of armoured vehicles. They won’t do any good because we’re going to paralyse everything,’ he said.
On Tuesday 15 October, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) ordered 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 general elections on the 9th.
In response, Mondlane accused the Public Prosecutor’s Office of ‘serving’ Frelimo, considering that the accusation has no legal basis and that the institution ignored various ‘crimes’ allegedly committed by that party, especially the use of state resources during the election campaign.
Venâncio Mondlane has the support of the extra-parliamentary Podemos party, after leaving Renamo, the largest opposition party, in May, and 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.
In addition to Venâncio Mondlane and Daniel Chapo, Ossufo Momade, supported by Renamo, and Lutero Simango, supported by the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM, the third largest party), ran for the presidency in the elections on the 9th.
The publication of the presidential election results by the National Electoral Commission, if there is no second round, takes up to 15 days, before they are validated by the Constitutional Council, which has no deadlines for proclaiming the official results after analysing any appeals.
The vote included legislative seats (250 deputies) and seats for provincial assemblies and their respective provincial governors, in this case with 794 mandates to be distributed. The CNE approved lists of 35 political parties running for the Assembly of the Republic and 14 political parties and groups of voting citizens for the provincial assemblies.
