DANIEL CHAPO, LEADER OF MOZAMBIQUE’S RULING PARTY, WINS ELECTION AMID FRAUD CLAIMS

Thu 24 October 2024:

Daniel Chapo, the presidential candidate nominated by Mozambique’s ruling party, was declared winner of the Oct. 9 elections on Thursday by the country’s National Electoral Commission (CNE).

Chapo, 47, will succeed incumbent President Filipe Nyusi, who came to the end of his two-term constitutional mandate.

Chapo won with a commanding 71% of the vote, defeating his closest challenger, Venancio Mondlane of the Podemos party, who secured just 20%.

Mondlane had earlier claimed the election results were being manipulated in favor of the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) which has been in power for nearly 50 years since the country’s independence.

The 47-year-old Chapo will officially take charge of the southern African country in January, becoming Mozambique’s first president born after independence.

The elections were marred by violence, including the killing of two opposition figures from the Podemos party over the weekend.

Elvino Dias, Mondlane’s lawyer, and Paulo Guambe, a Podemos party official, were shot dead Saturday when gunmen attacked their vehicle in the capital, Maputo.

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Mondlane, 50, backed by the Podemos party, has claimed he won the vote, alleging electoral fraud and manipulation in favour of Frelimo.

Since voting day Mondlane has issued calls on social media for protests. In a message on Facebook late Wednesday, he encouraged a “great national demonstration” against Frelimo’s half-a-century in power.

“The time has come for the people to take power and say that we now want to change the history of this country,” he said.

Frelimo has often been accused of rigging elections, which it has consistently denied. Current President Filipe Nyusi of Frelimo is stepping down after serving two terms, the maximum allowed.

The EU’s observer mission said this week that some of its election observers had been prevented from monitoring counting in some areas, and there was an “unjustified alteration” of results at some polling stations.

Opposition parties have alleged fraud since the day of the election.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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