Maputo, 7 Nov (AIM) – The Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) has urged President Filipe Nyusi to call, as a matter of urgency, a meeting of the Council of State, to open a space for dialogue, and prevent the current wave of anti-government demonstrations from collapsing into a bloodbath.
Cited by the independent television station STV, OAM Chairperson Carlos Martins said “We think the time has come to call on the President of Podemos to open inclusive lines of dialogue. We should do everything to calm down inflamed spirits”.
“Only with a deeper, serious and genuine dialogue can we overcome this situation and avoid the worse”, he added.
Podemos is the party that provided the main organizational backing for independent candidate Venancio Mondlane, in his campaign for the president. It was Mondlane who called for the current wave of strikes and demonstrations, supposedly against fraud in the general elections held on 9 October.
But Mondlane is not the President of Podemos. That position is held by Albano Forquilha, who is clearly not in agreement with the paralysis of the Mozambican economy called for by Mondlane.
Martins did not agree that no dialogue can be held until the Constitutional Council, the highest body in matters of electoral law, has given its ruling on the elections. He pointed out that the electoral management bodies have lost all credibility, and were not trusted to bring justice to the elections.
“Given this complete lack of credibility, it will be difficult to convince society that it should wait for a better decision”, said Martins.
He warned that, even if the polling station results sheets that are currently missing, should reappear, there was no guarantee that they had not been tampered with. Even if a recount were to be ordered, Martins feared that the votes being recounted might not be genuine.
So the only path forward was dialogue, he claimed, and the OAM was willing to mediate that dialogue.
“We have demonstrations against the election results everywhere”, said Martins. “The way this whole process was handled suggests we need a deep reflection on our electoral bodies and on the Constitutional Council. This is only solved on the basis of dialogue”.
(AIM)
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