The leader of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, Ossufo Momade, on Monday demanded the “immediate annulment” of the 9 October elections and the creation of a “provisional government” until new elections are held.
“We are here to call for the immediate annulment of this electoral process. In the eyes of everyone and the international community, we are unanimous in saying that it did not reflect the legitimate will of the people for various reasons that are known to all of us,” said Ossufo Momade at a press conference in Maputo.
According to the presidential candidate, one of the four who ran in October to succeed Filipe Nyusi, with the support of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the demand to annul the elections “does not delegitimise the voice of the people, but ensures that this voice is heard clearly and unquestionably”.
“Our demand for annulment is not a frivolous action or one motivated by personal or party interests. On the contrary, it is a call for ethics, justice and the truth,” said Ossufo Momade, adding that there is evidence pointing to practices that jeopardise the electoral process.
The leader dismissed the party’s involvement in the violent post-election demonstrations that have been taking place across the country.
“Renamo is for peaceful demonstrations, without bloodshed,” he said, and called for the involvement of institutions representing the people, to stop this violence.
“It’s time for the Parliament to meet in defence of the people it claims to represent. Likewise, the attorney general’s office, an entity that stands in defence of the peaceful citizen, has nothing to say about the deaths of many Mozambican citizens by the police, who claim to be non-partisan and republican,” he said, describing the police action against the demonstrators as a “slaughter”.
He mentioned various irregularities in the elections, such as the rigging of ballot papers or the falsification of public notices, calling for the creation of a provisional caretaker government: “For the sake of democracy and social stability, for the restoration of confidence in the institutions of justice and electoral administration, Renamo proposes the creation of a caretaker government that will ensure the full functioning of the institutions while we prepare for the holding of free, fair and transparent elections”.
At least 25 people died and another 26 were shot in five days of demonstrations contesting the results of the general elections in Mozambique, indicates an update from the Decide electoral platform, released today.
The deaths and shootings occurred between 13 and 17 November, in at least five Mozambican provinces, during the fourth stage of stoppages called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who is contesting the victory of Daniel Chapo, the candidate supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power), who won with 70.67% of the vote, according to the results announced by the National Electoral Commission (CNE).
According to the election monitoring platform, there were also 135 arrests in Mozambique following the protests, most of which were recorded in Zambézia, the centre of the country, with a total of 25 detainees.
According to local media, at least seven people died on Friday night after being run over during protests in Maputo province.
Lusa tried unsuccessfully to contact the police for more information on this case.
Venâncio Mondlane, who came second with 20.32% of the vote, according to the CNE, said he did not recognise the results of the elections, which must still be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council, which has no deadlines for doing so and is still analysing the dispute.
Following protests that brought the country to a standstill on 21, 24 and 25 October, Mondlane once again called on the public to go on a seven-day general strike from 31 October, with nationwide protests and a demonstration in Maputo on 7 November, which caused chaos in the capital, with reports of deaths, barricades, burning tyres and police firing shots and tear gas throughout the day to disperse them.