
Maputo, 7 Nov (AIM) – Mozambique’s fugitive opposition leader, Venancio Mondlane, on Thursday threatened that street demonstrations will continue until the authorities accept “the truth about the elections”.
It had been thought that Thursday would be the last day of demonstrations. Mondlane had called for a week of demonstrations, from 31 October to 7 November, culminating in a “march on Maputo”, which would lead to the overthrow of the Mozambican government.
This did not happen. The up to four million people whom Mondlane said would attend his “march on Maputo” did not show up, and there was no indication that the government would be toppled.
There were clashes between demonstrators and police in various parts of the city, but the protesters did not “occupy the city” as Mondlane had promised.
Another broken promise was that Mondlane himself did not attend his own march. Repeatedly, he had said that he would return to the capital for the “march on Maputo”, but he was nowhere to be seen.
In a live broadcast, transmitted over Facebook, Mondlane said he broke this promise “because the people told me to stay where I am”. So in less than 24 hours, “the people” had somehow informed Mondlane that he should remain in his hideout (believed to be somewhere in South Africa).
With this change of plan, he declared that the street demonstrations will continue until his demands have been met. Key among these demands is “the restoration of the electoral truth”. Quite explicitly, he stated that this meant accepting that he had won the presidential election, and that the main party supporting him, Podemos, had won the parliamentary election. Otherwise, the demonstrations would just go on and on.
Mondlane first claimed he had won the presidential election within hours of the close of polls on 9 October. But he has not presented publicly the evidence backing his claims.
Only the minutes and the results sheets (“editais”) from the 25,000 polling stations can prove who won. Mondlane says he has the results sheets that prove his victory, but he has not published them, just as the National Elections Commission (CNE) has not published evidence proving that Frelimo and its presidential candidate, Daniel Chapo, won.
(AIM)
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