Maputo, Oct 24 (EFE).- Daniel Chapo, a low-profile leader of Mozambique’s ruling party and virtually unknown to many until a few months ago, was declared winner of the country’s presidential election on Thursday, according to preliminary results released by the National Electoral Commission that must be confirmed by the Constitutional Council.
Chapo won 70.67% of the vote in the Oct. 9 election, allowing the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, FRELIMO), which has held the presidency since independence from Portugal in 1975, to remain in power.
Despite an abstention rate of 56.52%, Chapo won a comfortable majority in each of the country’s 13 electoral districts (10 provinces, the capital city Maputo, the diaspora in Africa, and the diaspora in the rest of the world).
Independent candidate Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Povo Otimista para o Desenvolvimento de Moçambique, PODEMOS), came in second with 20.32% of the vote.
The candidate Ossufo Momade of the traditional main opposition force, the Mozambican National Resistance (Resistência Nacional Moçambicana, RENAMO), came in third with 5.81%, while the fourth candidate, Lutero Simango of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (Movimento Democrático de Moçambique, MDM), received 3.21% of the vote.
Even before the Electoral Commission’s announcement, the results were rejected by Mondlane, who on Monday called for a general strike to protest alleged electoral fraud and the murder last week of a lawyer and of a PODEMOS leader. Further protests were called for Thursday and Friday.
In addition, the electoral observation mission sent by the European Union claimed to have detected “irregularities” in the counting of votes and “unjustified alteration of election results at polling stations and district level.”
The president of the Bishops’ Conference of Mozambique, Archbishop Inácio Saure, also denounced “serious fraud” in the election.
Along with electing their next president, more than 17 million Mozambicans were called to vote for deputies to the Assembly of the Republic (unicameral parliament), as well as governors and legislators for the country’s 10 provinces and the city of Maputo.
The FRELIMO candidate won the election despite a major corruption scandal that tainted the party in the last legislature.
The election was also overshadowed by the upsurge this year in jihadist attacks in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, which the Mozambican army has been fighting since 2017.
Outgoing President Filipe Nyusi did not seek re-election, having already served the two terms allowed by the constitution.
The final results should be announced in the first week of November, after being validated by the Constitutional Council. EFE
ac-lbg/ics/mcd