Mozambique’s main opposition Renamo party has rejected the general election results announced on Wednesday which handed the ruling Frelimo party a resounding victory that also retained President Armando Guebuza for another five years, the official Mozambique News Agency reported Thursday.
The results announced by the National Elections Commission (CNE) showed the ruling Frelimo Party winning 75 per cent of the votes.
Renamo general secretary Ossufo Momade demanded that the elections be annulled and a transitional government be set up to run the country until the electoral laws have been overhauled and new polls organized.
According to AIM, Momade attacked Felisberto Naifethe, the general director of the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), executive body of the CNE, claiming that he had organized the massive fraud alleged by Renamo.
Momade even claimed that Renamo had been taken by surprise when it found that its candidates had been disqualified for about half the district constituencies for the elections for the provincial assemblies.
Momade said that Renamo is in favor of peace, but he did not exclude “new sacrifices” in order “to save democracy”.
Renamo said it would challenge official results of the 28 October general elections.
In the announcement of the poll results, Joao da Costa, chairman of CNE, said incumbent Guebuza won the presidential vote with 75.46 per cent, followed by the Renamo opposition candidate Afonso Dhlakama. Daviz Simango of the newly formed Mozambique Democratic Movement finished a distant third.
In the legislative vote, Frelimo also won by a landslide, capturing 191 out of the 250 parliamentary seats. Political observers say the landslide parliamentary victory enables the ruling party to change the constitution at will, which they say is a significant boost for Frelimo policy making decisions
Source African Press Agency
