Mozambique is facing a serious political and social crisis that has lasted for three months. Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane refuses to recognize the results of the elections held on October 9, in which, according to the count approved by the Constitutional Court, he was defeated by the government candidate, Daniel Chapo. This caused the outbreak of intense citizen protests that have been violently repressed by law enforcement: there are already nearly 300 dead, most of them from gunshot wounds, more than 2,000 injured and some 4,000 people detained, according to the local NGO Plataforma Decide. .
Chapo was sworn in as president of the country on Wednesday of this week, in a ceremony held in the Independence Square of Maputo, the country’s capital, and in the presence of some 2,500 guests, among whom there were only two African heads of state. All the surrounding streets were deserted due to an imposing police deployment aimed at preventing the protests from reaching there. In his speech, the country’s fifth president in half a century called for dialogue: “Mozambique is stronger than any challenge or crisis. United, we will be able to overcome obstacles and transform our pain into prosperity (…) This country needs peace and national reconciliation,” he said.
A few hours later, Mondlane launched a live broadcast through social networks, his usual means of communication with his followers, in which he described the inauguration as a “funeral ceremony completely closed to the people and militarized.” “A theater, a circus,” he summarized. The opposition leader took his challenge to power to the extreme by announcing that this Friday he will reveal his government measures “as president elected by the people.”
Mondlane returned to Mozambique on January 9 after spending several weeks in South Africa, and carried out his own inauguration ceremony in the middle of the street, covered with a flag, with a Bible in his hand and surrounded by thousands of followers.
The first protests in this country of 33 million inhabitants broke out in mid-October, days before the proclamation of the first results by the electoral commission. Two months later, on December 23, the Constitutional Court ratified Chapo’s victory with 65% of the votes against Mondlane, who obtained 24%. However, the opposition leader, who has enormous popularity especially among young people, claims to have obtained 53% of the ballots and accuses the Government of a “coup d’état” and of trying to steal his victory.
The European Union observation mission has denounced a lack of transparency and irregularities in the electoral process. “We detected stuffing of ballot boxes and deficiencies in the count. Despite our demand, the electoral commission has not published the minutes of each polling station. The electoral bodies lack impartiality and transparency, the government party used public resources during the campaign and there are deficiencies in the census,” says the head of this mission, Spanish MEP Laura Ballarín, who also criticizes police repression. “I don’t know if there are 200 or 300 deaths, but in any case there are too many, it tears us apart. The right to peaceful demonstration has not been respected, the perpetrators of these crimes should be prosecuted and justice should be done,” he adds.
In the legislative elections, also held on October 9, the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), which has been in power for almost 50 years, achieved an absolute majority with 171 seats out of 250, compared to the 43 obtained by the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique ( Podemos ) that supported Mondlane’s candidacy. The historic Mozambican National Resistance group (Renamo), until now the main opposition party and traditional rival of Frelimo both in the civil war and in the electoral contests, was relegated to third place in the Chamber with 28 deputies.
“From the European Union we advocate for a dialogue process that leads to the pacification of the country and a series of reforms,” adds Ballarín. President Chapo has already announced that he will undertake changes to the electoral system, as well as a decentralization process and investments in infrastructure and public services. Mondlane, for his part, plays the card of his great popular support and keeps his finger on the pulse of the State. However, the party that supported him has decided to accept the results, take possession of its seats and open itself to a possible dialogue. “While Venancio still thinks that continuing the protests as they have occurred in the past is the best path to electoral truth, we think that there are other mechanisms,” Albino Forquilha, leader of Podemos, said at a press conference.