Elections in Mozambique: Simango promises measures against fraud, Renamo points to stuffing of ballot boxes

Presidential candidate Lutero Simango, supported by the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), affirmed this Thursday that the electoral results were “forged in the secretariat”, promising “political and legal actions” to restore the “popular will.”

“These are administrative results, forged in the secretariat, they do not reflect the popular will and the true expression of the voters at the polls (…) That is why “We will combine political and legal action so that the results reflect the will of the voters.”declared Lutero Simango, after the publication of the results by the National Electoral Commission (CNE), which still must be validated by the Constitutional Council.

The presidential candidate accused the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) of “manipulating the results, pointing out that the party in power illegally appointed polling station presidents for its benefit.

“Given this manipulation, these results cannot be accepted, that is why we said that there is an absence of electoral justice andWe are left with two alternatives: the reestablishment of legality or the widespread mobilization of revolt. what we are seeing in the city of Maputo,” said Simango.

In the same public statement, he stated that It is the responsibility of the Constitutional Council to “restore legality”pointing out as an alternative solution the performance of what he called a “forensic audit.”

“There must be a control of the ballots from all the polling stations with the respective minutes and notices and based on this they can be compared with what is in the ballot boxes or the most sensible thing is to repeat the elections.“He added, adding that the “use of force” to prevail against the “popular will” generates violence.

For his part, the leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Geraldo Carvalho, stated that no “lucid” Mozambican is capable of accepting the announced results, accusing Frelimo of committing fraud.

“Who would accept something like that? This is playing with the people, it is pushing the people towards a one-party system. After everything we saw, violation of the ballot boxes, there are several videos, images that confirm that there was stuffing for a certain candidate and party,” said the Renamo leader.

Meanwhile, Frelimo thanked Mozambicans for voting for them and their presidential candidate Daniel Chapo.

“It is a moment of joy without a doubt, but also of great responsibility. We want to say that we will wait for the next phase, but we cannot fail to express our joy, especially our gratitude for the vote that was cast for our party and our candidate,” declared the representative of the ruling party, Verónica Macamo. .

The CNE announced this Thursday the victory of Daniel Chapo (Frelimo) in the elections for President of the Republic on October 9, with 70.67% of the votes..

Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique ( Podemos, extra-parliamentary), came in second place, with 20.32%, totaling 1,412,517 votes.

In third place in the presidential elections was Ossufo Momade, president of Renamo, until now the largest opposition party, with 403,591 votes (5.81%), followed by Lutero Simango, president of the MDM, with 223,066 votes (3.21 %).

In this election, 43.48% of the more than 17.1 million registered voters voted.

The general elections of October 9 included the seventh presidential elections – in which the current head of state, Filipe Nyusi, who reached the two-term limit, was no longer running –, simultaneously with legislative elections, for provincial assemblies and for governors.

The announcement of the results made this Thursday by the CNE occurs on the first of two days of general strike and demonstrations throughout the country called by candidate Venâncio Mondlane against this year’s electoral process, which is marked by clashes between protesters and Police officers on the main avenues of the capital of Mozambique.