Maputo, 10 Aug (AIM) – Mozambique’s two main opposition parties, Renamo and the MDM (Mozambique Democratic Movement) on Wednesday afternoon submitted to the Maputo headquarters of the National Elections Commission (CNE) that nomination papers for their candidates to the municipal elections scheduled for 11 October.
Like the ruling Frelimo Party, which submitted its papers earlier in the day, Renamo and the MDM say they plan to run full slates of candidates for the municipal assemblies in all 65 municipalities.
“In this war, we are not going to retreat”, the Renamo national election agent, Gloria Salvador, told reporters. “We shall stay here, and we shall carry through our commitments to the end”.
“We are encouraging Mozambicans to vote, and we shall always be present for anything concerning the electoral process”, she added.
As for the MDM, its election agent. Silvia Cheia, stressed that one of its main goals is to win back municipalities which it once controlled but lost in the last local elections, in 2018.
Prior to 2018, there were MDM mayors in three major cities – Beira, Nampula and Quelimane. But in the 2018 elections it was only able to hold onto its stronghold of Beira.
It lost the other two cities to Renamo. The MDM mayor of Nampula, Mahamudo Amurrane, was assassinated in October 2017. The Renamo candidate, Paulo Vahanle, won the ensuing mayoral by-election, and consolidated his victory in the nationwide municipal elections the following year.
The mayor of Quelimane, Manuel de Araujo, rose to power thanks to the support of the MDM, but later defected to Renamo. Araujo won a by-election as the MDM candidate in 2011. In the municipal elections of 2013, he soundly defeated the candidates of both Frelimo and Renamo.
The MDM had every intention of running him again in 2018, but Araujo jumped ship, and ran, successfully, for Renamo.
A further municipality which the MDM hopes to recapture is Gurue, in the central province of Zambézia. The MDM held this town between 2013 and 2018, when it lost to Frelimo.
(AIM)
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