Mozambique ruling party declared winner of election amid fraud claims

The ruling Frelimo party’s presidential candidate Daniel Chapo secures more than 70 percent of votes, election commission says.

Mozambique’s ruling party candidate, Daniel Chapo, has been declared the winner of the country’s presidential election amid claims of rigging by the opposition.

Chapo, from the Frelimo party which has been in power for almost half a century, secured more than 70 percent of the votes, the National Election Commission (CNE) said on Thursday.

His main opponent, the independent candidate Venancio Mondlane, came second with more than 20 percent, while the candidate of the opposition party Renamo, Ossufo Momade, came third with more than five percent, according to the CNE.

The results of the October 9 election mean the governing Front for the Liberation of Mozambique party, or Frelimo, has extended its 49 years in power since the southern African country gained independence from Portugal in 1975.

It then fought a bloody 15-year civil war against the rebel group Renamo, which later developed into the main opposition party.

Mondlane, 50, backed by the Podemos party, has claimed he won the vote, alleging electoral fraud and manipulation in favour of Frelimo.

Speaking shortly after the results were announced, Chapo told supporters he condemned the recent killings of two opposition figures. He also criticised the strikes called by the opposition to protest what it claimed was systematic deceit.

Police quelled the demonstrations this week, dispersing them by firing teargas.

“As the Frelimo party, we want to once again reiterate our repudiation of the murders of Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe as well as other citizens physically affected in this ongoing process of demonstrations,” Chapo said.

Dias, a lawyer and advisor to opposition presidential candidate Mondlane, was killed when gunmen riddled his car with bullets in the port capital of Maputo last Friday. Guambe, the party spokesperson, was also in the car and was killed.

Mondlane has accused the security forces of carrying out the killing. Police said they have launched an investigation into the killings, which Frelimo “vehemently” condemned as a “macabre act”.

Chapo promised to “try to do better for the Mozambican people,” regardless of race, religion or political affiliation.

The 47-year-old Chapo will officially take charge of the southern African country in January, becoming Mozambique’s first president born after independence.

Protests, tear gas

As the commission was announcing the results, crowds of Mondlane’s supporters gathered in various cities, including the capital Maputo and northern Nampula, some brandishing placards with slogans such as “Tired of being the slaves of thieves”.

Police blocked their path into the centre of Maputo and fired tear gas along a main avenue where protesters had burned tyres and ripped up election posters, AFP reporters said.

Other protesters sought to block the road leading from the capital to the South African border.

Police said that clashes with protesters had left several injured across the country and reported one death in Nampula in the north.

Since voting day Mondlane has issued calls on social media for protests. In a message on Facebook late Wednesday, he encouraged a “great national demonstration” against Frelimo’s half-a-century in power.

“The time has come for the people to take power and say that we now want to change the history of this country,” he said.

Frelimo has often been accused of rigging elections, which it has consistently denied. Current President Filipe Nyusi of Frelimo is stepping down after serving two terms, the maximum allowed.

The EU’s observer mission said this week that some of its election observers had been prevented from monitoring counting in some areas, and there was an “unjustified alteration” of results at some polling stations.

Opposition parties have alleged fraud since the day of the election.