Around 40 opposition political parties, mainly extra-parliamentary, announced this Wednesday, 30 October, an ‘unprecedented alliance’ to contest the results of the 9 October vote in Mozambique, promising to lead the grassroots demonstrations called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane.
‘This is a prophetic moment in the life of Mozambicans. For the first time, the entire opposition is together. This represents a sense of unity for collective action in which together we are rejecting the results that have been released and we are calling for a forensic audit to restore the will of the people,’ declared Salomão Muchanga, president of New Democracy, moments after the end of the meeting that brought together around 40 representatives, including from the Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM), the third largest parliamentary force.
The National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced on Thursday (24) the victory of Daniel Chapo, supported by the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo, the party in power since 1975) in the election for Mozambican President, with 70.67 per cent of the votes, and the strengthening of Frelimo’s parliamentary representation.
‘We declare that, from the parallel counts carried out by the parties, unitarily and jointly, they are convinced that the counting process curtailed the rights of all contestants, which is why we demand that the electoral truth be restored,’ said Denis Tivane, of the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), which supports Venâncio Mondlane.
Mondlane, the presidential candidate named by the CNE as the second most voted (20.32% ), was the first to reject the figures presented by the electoral body, calling for a week-long general strike starting on Thursday (31), demonstrations at the district offices of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and marches to Maputo on 7 November.
In the document produced at the end of the meeting, the opposition political parties promised to ‘lead the people’ in the protests, considering that this is a constitutional right.
‘We are calling the people to peaceful demonstrations, which are within the country’s legal system. There is nothing illegal,’ emphasised Augusto Mbazo, from the MDM.
Mondlane, who is currently abroad, had already called on the people to take to the streets for two days, following the murder on 18 October of his lawyer Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe, leader of the Podemos party, demonstrations marked by clashes with the police in various parts of the country, with deaths, injuries and arrests, as well as closed shops.
The Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), a non-governmental organisation that monitors electoral processes, estimates that ten people died, dozens were injured and around 500 were arrested in the context of the protests and clashes during the strike and demonstrations last Thursday and Friday, which followed the violent clashes of 21 October.
Although the spokespeople for the political parties have told the press that the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) is a signatory to the final document, the main opposition party was not at the press conference where the union of political forces was announced.
