Mozambique: Podemos rebuffs betrayal accusations in rift with Mondlane

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Podemos rebuffs betrayal accusations in rift with Mondlane

9:30 CAT | 07 Jan 2025

File photo: Lusa

The Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), which backed presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane in October’s general election, on Monday accused him of “seriously” violating their pre-election agreement, at the same time rejecting any accusations that it is betraying him.

“It is not possible to sustain allegations of betrayal on the part of Podemos, which has always remained within the agreed limits, and has often subordinated itself to the unilateral strategies of the other party… while Venâncio Mondlane has repeatedly and seriously violated the terms of the aforementioned agreement, on multiple occasions, since the campaign period,” reads a statement from Podemos sent to the media on Monday.

Dinis Tivane, an advisor to Mondlane, who has refused to recognise the official results of the 9 October general elections – which handed victory to Daniel Chapo, the candidate of the governing Frelimo party – said on 3 January that if Podemos members of the new parliament also elected on 9 October are sworn in as announced, that would represent a “betrayal” – and calling for the outright rejection of the results validated last month by the Constitutional Council (CC).

Mondlane also accused the president of Podemos of violating the pre-election agreement between them by allowing the inauguration of members of parliament elected on the slate of the party, which until now had no seats.

In a statement sent on 4 January to political parties, diplomatic representations and Mozambique’s president, Filipe Nyusi, the authenticity of which Lusa confirmed with Mondlane himself, the candidate recalls that he signed a “coalition political agreement” with Podemos on 21 August, valid until 2028, that “regulates a series of issues,” namely “Podemos’s political decisions.”

In a statement of its own, Podemos said that its “legal and political” relationship with Mondlane “is based on a political agreement signed freely, consciously and voluntarily by the parties,” indicating that their actions should be subject to the agreement, which “clearly establishes the duties and responsibilities of both parties.”

Podemos reiterates that its MPs will be sworn in, and that the party is “committed to full respect for the principles of law and electoral legality.

“The thesis supported by [Mondlane aide] Dinis Tivane contradicts the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic, which establishes that failure to take office is equivalent to giving up the parliamentary mandate, as set out in article 10, in line with the principles of the Constitution of the Republic,” the Podemos party’s statement reads.

READ: Mozambique: Presidential candidate accuses Podemos leader of breaking agreement

The results promulgated by the Constitutional Council (CC) on 23 December point to Podemos being the largest opposition party in the new parliament, whose members are to be sworn in at a ceremony on 13 January. In all previous parliaments since the first multiparty elections in 1994, the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) had been the main opposition.

Of the 250 seats in parliament, Renamo will now have 28, down from 60 gained in the 2019 legislative elections.

Frelimo, which has been in power since independence, maintained its parliamentary majority, with 171 deputies.

In the presidential elections, the CC proclaimed Chapo, the Frelimo candidate, the winner with 65.17% of the vote.

The result has been widely contested on the streets, with the CC’s announcement doing nothing to stem the turmoil that the country has experienced since late October, with protestors coming out in response to appeals from Mondlane, who according to the CC only obtained 24% of the votes but is claiming victory. Amid protests demanding the “restoration of electoral truth” the multiple clashes with the police have left almost 300 people dead, while more than 500 people have suffered gunshot wounds.

Source: Lusa