Frelimo and Renamo both claim Maputo victory

Maputo, 12 Oct (AIM) – Both the ruling Frelimo Party and the main opposition force, Renamo, have claimed victory in Wednesday’s election for the Maputo municipal assembly.

The Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) has not released any results, not even preliminary ones. Hence the media, and observers, are dependent on the results sheets (known as “editais”) which should be posted on the walls of the polling stations.

So far AIM has seen dozens of Maputo city editais – and Renamo won a substantial majority in every one of them. However, these editais are all from the central parts of the city. Results from polling stations in the outlying, semi-rural parts of Maputo, might change the picture, and allow Frelimo to hang onto power in the capital.

The head of the Renamo list for the municipal assembly, Venancio Mondlane, is convinced that he will be the next mayor. Cited in Thursday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, Mondlane accused Frelimo of using the police to commit “illegal and criminal acts” in order to distort the election results which, he claimed, gave Renamo an “overwhelming victory”.

Mondlane called on his supporters to remain vigilant, and to ensure that every vote cast by every municipal citizen is really counted.

“This is the crucial moment in the liberation of the country”, he declared. “Nobody should lose heart. Nobody should desist. Let us remain firm to the final consequences”.

“Nobody should sleep until the final results are in”, Mondlane urged.

In many polling stations, the editais appear to have disappeared. This has happened in previous elections, often because passers-by have pocketed them.

But this time, there are claims that polling station chairpersons have received instructions not to show the missing editais to the public. Mondlane said this had happened in parts of the KaMabukwane and KaMavota municipal districts.

Mondlane also alleged that opposition party monitors had been forcibly removed from the polling stations with the support of the police, on the orders of the station chairpersons.

He urged police agents not to obey such orders “because they are illegal and criminal orders. Sooner or later, the people who give these orders will have to answer for their crimes”.

Despite the disappearance of many editais, Radio Mozambique was able to announce a clear Renamo victory in the capital. Out of the 35,719 valid votes on the editais seen by the Radio, Renamo won 18,113 votes and Frelimo 14,391. The Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) was in third place, with just 2,518 votes.

If Mondlane is right, and Renamo has won in Maputo, this will be the first time since Mozambican independence in 1975 that control over the capital has slipped out of Frelimo’s hands.

Mondlane began his political career in the MDM. He was first elected to the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on the MDM ticket, and was the MDM candidate for mayor of Maputo in the 2013 municipal elections.

But in June 2018, he defected to Renamo, and this seems to have dealt a deadly blow to the MDM in the city.

(AIM)

Pf/ (515)