Maputo, 7 May (AIM) – The former head of the parliamentary group of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, Ivone Soares, on Tuesday announced her intention of running for the presidency of Renamo at the party’s forthcoming congress, scheduled for 14-15 May in the central province of Zambezia.
The 44 year old Soares is the niece of Afonso Dhlakama, who led Renamo from 1979 until his death from diabetes in 2018. She was a member of the Renamo National Political Commission from 2009 to 2021, and was head of its parliamentary group from 2015 to 2020.
According to a short biography, distributed on Mozambican social media, she joined Renamo at the age of 14, but could only be issued with a membership card when she attained the age of 18 in 1997.
“I am a dedicated daughter of Renamo and a sister to all of you”, she wrote in this biography. “I am a committed leader with a rich political and academic experience, and I am motivated to answer the call of the people”.
“I grew up in Renamo and I have never had any other party”, she declared. “I am responding to the requests from a large number of people inside Renamo who have asked me to stand”.
There are four other known candidates for the Renamo presidency. One is the current party president, Ossufo Momade, who has declared his intention of standing for a second term.
He is challenged by Elias Dhlakama, the younger brother of Afonso Dhlakama, Andre Magibire, a former general secretary of Renamo, and Alfredo Magumisse, the deputy head of the Renamo parliamentary group. Thus Soares is the only woman standing for the presidency.
Venancio Mondlane, the Renamo candidate for mayor of Maputo in the 2023 municipal elections, had declared his intention to challenge Momade, but the rules for the Renamo election were written in such a way as to exclude Mondlane.
All candidates must have been members of Renamo for at least 15 years, but Mondlane only joined the party in 2018.
(AIM)
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