What’s going on in Mozambique? Solidarity update

Mozambique has been hit by an unprecedented general strike, protests and political killings as the legitimacy of October’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections is challenged by opposition parties and civil society. ACTSA advisory council member Dave Spurgeon explains what’s going on.

A number of commentators have called it the most fraudulent election in Mozambique’s history, with the scale not yet known. Allegations of ballot boxes being stuffed with votes for the governing party Frelimo (which has governed Mozambique since independence in 1975), huge numbers of ghost voters being added to electoral lists, opposition votes being declared invalid, and fraudulent returns being announced have all been made.

Frelimo were declared the dominant party in both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections with Frelimo’s Daniel Chapo elected president with 71% of the vote, to replace Frelimo’s Filipe Nyusi, who has served two terms. Chapo is a relative newcomer in Mozambican politics and will be the first president born after independence in 1975. He will be sworn into office in January 2025. His closest challenger, Venâncio Mondlane, who broke away from the main opposition party Renamo and was supported by relatively new party Podemos[1], ran as an independent and got 20% of the votes cast. The two other candidates were Ossufo Momade of Renamo, and Lutero Simango of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM).

A further 5 smaller parties contested the national parliamentary elections where Frelimo gained a further 11 seats, bringing its total up to 195. With now more than three quarters of the seats, Frelimo now has unilateral power to change the constitution. Renamo lost two-thirds of its seats in parliament, falling from 60 to 20. MDM representation falls from 6 to 4 seats. The biggest winner, apart from Frelimo, was Podemos which becomes the second party in parliament with 31 seats.

Voting in both the presidential and parliamentary elections was at a record low, which a number of commentators put down to instances of fraud in previous elections, with people believing their vote is not respected.

In a strongly worded statement, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) says EU observers were prevented from observing tabulation processes in some districts and provinces, as well as at the national level. Nevertheless, it “noted irregularities during counting and unjustified alteration of election results at polling station and district level”.

Catholic Bishops, in a statement on 22 October, claimed “there was gross fraud. Ballot box stuffing, forged results sheets and so many other ways of covering up the truth were repeated. The irregularities and fraud, which have been perpetrated with impunity, have reinforced the lack of trust in electoral bodies”. Although Mozambique’s election commission voted 9 to 7 to approve the results, the closeness of the vote tells its own story.

Post elections, tension in the country has been palpable with many people calling for civil unrest and for the results of the election to be overturned. The Government has responded with violence and repression. It has imposed ‘internet shut downs’ restricting access to Facebook, instagram and Whatsapp. The most serious incident so far was the shooting dead of Venâncio Mondlane’s lawyer, Elvino Dias, and Podemos official Paulo Guambe, when gunmen attacked their car in Maputo on 19 October.

Young people continue to march and protest, with major roads closed, as government rhetoric grows more extreme, calling the demonstrators terrorists and giving the police the right to shoot to kill. The latest figures show that at least 100 people have been killed by police since 21 October, far more than insurgents killed in Cabo Delgado in the same period. On the 27 November, a video appearing to show a military vehicle running over peaceful protestors emerged. An unprecedented general strike called by Venâncio Mondlane is now in its sixth week. The strike is not just about massive electoral fraud, but also about growing poverty and lack of a future for young people. Governing party Frelimo seems divided and worried. Professionals including doctors and lawyers are believed to be turning against Frelimo.

It is unclear when and how this will end. For updated information: https://www.cipmoz.org/pt/ and follow Southern Defenders for daily updates: https://x.com/SAHRDNetwork

ACTSA will keep working with partners in the region to monitor the situation and support the right to free and fair elections and to peaceful protest.

[1] Podemos (Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique) was founded in 2019 by a faction of Frelimo dissident from the leadership headed by President Nyusi.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ACTSA.