COUNTRY UPDATE: 1 November 2023
Johan Viljoen, Reabetswe Tloubatla
Mozambique
Chaos engulfs Mozambique in the wake of fraudulent elections
The fallout of the fraudulent local government elections, held on 11 October, continues to reverberate around the country. A summary recap: on 11 October local government elections were held in the country’s 65 municipalities. Elections were replete with irregularities, as reported in our previous update. Mozambique has two election bodies –STAE (responsible for the technical administration of elections) and CNE (the National Electoral Commission,
chaired by Bishop Carlos Matsinhe, the Anglican Bishop of Maputo and a known Frelimo supporter). Initial results from polling stations indicated a victory for the main opposition party, Renamo, in most municipalities, including Nacala and Nampula (where a landslide for Renamo was recorded) and Maputo (where the Renamo mayoral candidate, Venancio Mondlane, had garnered 56% of the vote). On Saturday 14 October STAE announced preliminary results – a landslide victory for Frelimo in all municipalities except Beira, where the MDM won. Protests immediately erupted in Maputo, Nampula, Nacala and Quelimane, continuing for four days. On Thursday 26 October, CNE announced the final results, confirming the Frelimo landslide announced by STAE earlier.
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