Renamo says it will use ‘all internal and international mechanisms’ to have the elections annulled, assuming that it takes no responsibility for the post-election events.
Renamo leader and presidential candidate Ossufo Momade said on Friday that Mozambique’s largest opposition party does not recognise the announced results of the general elections, that if they have not been annulled ‘it is not responsible’ for ‘possible events’.
‘Renamo is aware of the responsibility it has in this country, which is why we declare, here and now, that we do not accept the results and we will use all internal and international mechanisms to have these elections declared non-existent and electoral justice answered. Otherwise, Renamo is not responsible for any possible post-election events,’ Momade announced in Maputo.
Speaking for the first time after the general elections on 9 October, the day after the National Electoral Commission announced the official results of the vote, which placed him as the third presidential candidate out of four and stripped the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) of its status as the largest opposition party – it went from 60 to 20 deputies – behind Podemos (31 deputies), Ossufo Momade said that the results represent a ‘change in the will of the people’.
‘These were not elections. It was a crime, a flagrant disregard and violation of fundamental rights, such as ballot box stuffing, the infiltration of false minutes and notices, manipulation of election results, numerical discrepancies between district notices and polling stations,’ he said.
On Thursday, the Mozambican National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced the victory of Daniel Chapo (Frelimo) in the 9 October election for Mozambican President, with 70.67% of the votes, results that still have to be validated by the Constitutional Council.
Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the non-parliamentary Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), came second with 20.32%, totalling 1,412,517 votes.
In third place in the presidential election was Ossufo Momade, president of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), until now the largest opposition party, with 5.81 per cent, followed by Lutero Simango, president of the Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM), with 3.21 per cent.
The CNE’s announcement of the results on Thursday came on the first of two days of general strikes and demonstrations across the country called by Mondlane against this year’s electoral process, which is being marked by clashes between demonstrators and the police on the main avenues of the Mozambican capital.
More than 300 people have been arrested, according to the police, and in the streets and neighbourhoods of Maputo, the capital, the trail of clashes with demonstrators who took to the streets burning tyres and cutting off avenues was visible this morning, with a strong police response, with armoured personnel carriers, sniper teams, tear gas and shots fired into the air.
Observador
