Mozambique Elections: Mondlane calls for week-long strike and a national march to Maputo

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Mozambique Elections: Mondlane calls for week-long strike and a national march to Maputo

7:37 CAT | 29 Oct 2024

Screen grab: Venâncio Mondlane /Facebook

Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane today called for a one-week general strike in Mozambique starting on Thursday, demonstrations at the district headquarters of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and marches to Maputo on 7 November.

“A week [until 7 November] is enough for us all to leave our districts, our localities, for Maputo”, said Venâncio Mondlane, who is contesting the results of the general elections of 9 October, in a statement from his official Facebook account.

In his speech, Mondlane called for demonstrations at local CNE offices and headquarters of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the ruling party) starting on Thursday, October 31, for those who are unable to travel, asking the rest, from all over the country, to begin their journey to Maputo by November 7.

“We are going to fill the entire city of Maputo and I am predicting four million Mozambicans (…), a flood never seen before”, he appealed, acknowledging that he was asking for “a sacrifice” from the population.

This will be what Venâncio Mondlane classified as the third stage of the protest, which in previous stages has already involved violent clashes between supporters and the police.

“A week-long strike. This time it will be painful. We have to sacrifice ourselves for our country”, he said, insisting: “Starting on Thursday, which is October 31, mark this date. We are going to begin a new cycle, a total strike, a strike, public demonstrations, in the streets”.

“We are about to begin a very difficult cycle. You and I have to do something for this country,” he said in the same speech.

On Thursday, Mozambique’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced the victory of Daniel Chapo, supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the party in power since 1975) in the election for President of the Republic on October 9, with 70.67% of the votes.

Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos, an extra-parliamentary party), came in second place, with 20.32%, but says he does not recognize these results, which still have to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.

Frelimo also strengthened its parliamentary majority, increasing from 184 to 195 deputies (out of 250), and elected all 10 of the country’s provincial governors.

In addition to Mondlane, the president of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, the current largest opposition party), Ossufo Momade, one of the four presidential candidates, said he does not recognize the election results announced by the CNE and called for the vote to be annulled.

Last Thursday, presidential candidate Lutero Simango, supported by the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), also rejected the results, considering them to have been “forged in the secretariat”, and promised “political and legal action” to restore the “popular will”.

The Center for Public Integrity (CIP), a Mozambican non-governmental organization that monitors electoral processes, estimates that ten people died, dozens were injured and around 500 were arrested, in the context of the protests and clashes during the strike and demonstrations on Thursday and Friday, which followed similar violent clashes on October 21, also called by Venâncio Mondlane.

Source: Lusa