The elections in Mozambique, with the wave of violence that followed, was the Lusophone event of 2024 chosen by journalists from the Lusa news agency, who singled out Venâncio Mondlane, the presidential candidate who is contesting the results.
In this vote, Mozambique dominated the choices of the agency’s journalists. The most voted events were the elections, in which Frelimo’s announced victory is contested by the entire opposition, and the wave of post-election violence that has followed and caused dozens of deaths since October.
Venâncio Mondlane, the presidential candidate who has been leading the challenge to the results, was voted Lusophone Personality of the Year.
The elections and the wave of violence in Mozambique received 60 votes, followed by the floods in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, which killed more than 180 people, with nine votes, and the continuing political instability in Guinea-Bissau with one vote.
In addition to Mondlane, who received 39 votes, boxer David Pina, who won Cape Verde’s first Olympic medal, received 18 votes and poet Adélia Prado, who won the Camões Prize, received 15.
Luís Montenegro, Social Democrat leader and Prime Minister following the PSD/CDS coalition’s victory in the legislative elections, was chosen as the national personality of 2024, while the choice of international figure fell on Donald Trump, who won the US presidential election and returned to the White House four years later.
76 journalists took part in these choices – 38 voted for the elections and the change of political cycle in Portugal, followed with 24 votes for the death of Odair Moniz and the riots that followed in the Lisbon area, and with 12 votes for the controversies in the health sector.
Luís Montenegro was voted national personality by 29 journalists, followed by cyclists Iuri Leitão and Rui Oliveira, Olympic champions in Paris, with 25 favourites. Third, with 20 votes, was António Costa, the former prime minister who resigned because his name was involved in a court case in 2023 and who became president of the European Council in December.
In terms of international figures, Donald Trump topped the poll (41 votes), followed by Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s main opponent in Russia, who died under unclear circumstances in a prison in Siberia, with 27 votes. Corina Machado, the opposition leader barred from running for president in Venezuela, had eight votes.
In international events, the US elections, which saw Republican Donald Trump win, were the choice of 38 journalists.
In second place, with 28 votes, came the escalation of the war in the Middle East – Israel, the Gaza Strip, Israel and Lebanon – and the floods in Spain, which killed more than 200 people in October, received nine votes.
The list of topics was the result of a debate between the Agência de Informação and the agency’s editors. The vote, by email, took place between 19 and 26 November.
Since 2016, journalists have chosen the national, international and Lusophone events and figures of the year.
Lusa will publish the texts on the events and personalities of 2024 on 7 December.
Lusa
