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General Elections: MDM and RENAMO MPs Won’t Be Sworn In This Monday

General Elections: MDM and RENAMO MPs Won’t Be Sworn In This Monday

The eight MPs elected by the Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM) will not take part in the swearing-in this Monday in parliament, contesting the electoral process, the president of the current third largest party, Lutero Simango, told Lusa today.

‘Yesterday [Saturday 11 January] I met with the political committee and that decision was taken. This afternoon I met with the deputies to inform them,’ said Lutero Simango, who was also a presidential candidate, supported by the MDM, in the general elections of 9 October, which the party does not recognise.

‘I have always defended the need for a forensic audit, or a recount [of the votes], or as a last resort to annul the elections,’ said Simango, guaranteeing: ’The MPs will not be sworn in tomorrow.’

Renamo won’t be sworn in either

The MPs elected by the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) will also not take part in the swearing-in, the party announced today, asking Mozambicans to use ‘all peaceful means’ to ‘restore’ the electoral truth.

‘The Renamo party believes that this ceremony is devoid of any solemn value and therefore constitutes a social outrage and disrespect for the will of Mozambicans, so it will not be part of this inauguration,’ said the spokesman for the hitherto largest opposition party, Marcial Macome, on the sidelines of the meeting of the national political commission, which is taking place in Maputo.

The 250 deputies elected to the 10th Legislature of the Mozambican President – 28 from Renamo, compared to 60 at present – have been summoned to take office this Monday, at 10:00 local time (08:00 in Lisbon), at the seat of parliament in Maputo, in a solemn ceremony to be led by the outgoing Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi.

‘The Renamo party believes that the will of the people must be respected and the will of the people necessarily involves holding free, fair and transparent elections, and not administrative elections,’ added the spokesman, recalling that the party does not recognise the results announced by the “administrative ruling” of the Constitutional Council, insisting on the annulment and repetition of the electoral process, marked since October by social tensions, demonstrations and stoppages that have led to almost 300 deaths and more than 600 people shot.

On the agenda for Monday’s solemn session, in addition to the investiture of the deputies, is the election of the Mozambican President for the new legislature, a post currently held by Esperança Bias.

Last Saturday, presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane called for three days of paralysis in Mozambican territory from Monday and ‘peaceful demonstrations’ during the inauguration of the members of parliament and the new Mozambican President, challenging the electoral process.

‘The time has come for you to demonstrate your own initiative,’ he said in a live intervention in the early evening from his official Facebook account, alluding to the swearing-in ceremonies scheduled for Monday of the 250 MPs and Wednesday of Mozambican President Daniel Chapo.

‘These three days are crucial for our lives. We have to show that the people are in charge. Peaceful demonstrations. From 8am to 5pm [two hours less in Lisbon] is enough, against the traitors of the people on Monday and against the thieves of the people on Wednesday,’ he said.

Venâncio Mondlane returned to Mozambican President on Thursday after two and a half months abroad, citing security concerns, and insists that he does not recognise the announced results of the general elections on 9 October, in which the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power since 1975) elected its candidate, Daniel Chapo, as President of the Republic, retained the majority of deputies in the Assembly of the Republic and secured all the provincial governorships.

Frelimo won the elections to the Mozambican parliament with an absolute majority, securing 171 deputies, with newcomer Podemos electing 43, dethroning Renamo as the leader of the opposition, according to the proclamation of the results on 23 December by the president of the Constitutional Council (CC), Lúcia Ribeiro.

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Frelimo retains its parliamentary majority in the tenth legislature, with 171 deputies (184 at present), which will now have four parties represented, compared to the current three, including 28 from Renamo and eight (plus two) from the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).

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