Mozambique - Elections 2019
Following the 2019 elections, the party ruling the country since independence, the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO), will remain in power and in control of both national and provincial assemblies for another five years.
Mozambique is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with a freely elected republican form of government. The most recent national elections for president, parliament, and provincial assemblies took place in 2014. Voters elected as president Filipe Nyusi of the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo). Multiple national and international observers considered voting generally orderly but lacking transparency during vote tabulation. Some domestic and foreign observers and local civil society organizations expressed concern regarding election irregularities such as delays in observer credentialing, excessive numbers of invalid votes, and inordinately high voter turnout in some districts, which they stated indicated ballot box stuffing.
Renamo did not recognize the election results as legitimate, and Renamo officials initially refused to take their seats in parliament and the provincial assemblies but ended their boycott in 2015. Frelimo and the MDM accepted the results.
During the 2014 campaign period, representatives of opposition parties and civil society complained of increased acts of bias and intimidation by the government and Frelimo. For example, in 2014 election officials in Cabo Delgado Province held local meetings excluding the newly designated Renamo members, which they stated was due to a lack of meeting space. Independent reporting corroborated opposition parties’ accusations that Frelimo used state funds and resources for campaign purposes in violation of electoral law. Renamo sought to justify its use of violence by alleging fraud in the 2014 elections.
Frelimo continued to dominate the political process as it did throughout the decades since the country’s independence. Opposition political parties could operate, yet there continued to be occasional restrictions on meetings, unlawful arrests, and other forms of interference and harassment by the government. MDM, the second largest opposition party, won four key mayoral seats in the 2013 municipal elections and seven seats in the 2014 parliamentary elections, but it won only 7 percent of the popular vote in the 2014 presidential contest. Media bias in state-owned outlets in favor of Frelimo continued. The EU election observation mission criticized state-owned or affiliated media bias in its 2014 election report.
Frelimo - which has ruled the southern African nation since independence from Portugal in 1975 - was widely expected to win the 15 October 2019 presidential, parliamentary and provincial polls. Mozambique's main opposition party on 19 October 2019 called for the election to be annulled, accusing the government of breaching a peace deal by using violence and intimidation on voting day. Partial results from the election showed President Filipe Nyusi and his ruling Frelimo party headed for a major victory but the poll was marred by claims of fraud and irregularities. With a third of the national vote counted, results on the National Election Commission's website showed President Nyusi in the lead with 69 percent and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade with 25 percent.
Frelimo had also agreed to allow voters to elect governors for the country's 10 provinces. Under the peace deal, Renamo will be able to choose governors for the first time in any provinces it wins, instead of them being appointed by the central government in Maputo. Yet there are fears of unrest if it fails to win any. Renamo had been tipped to win control of at least three of those provinces, but partial results have cast doubt on that prediction. Renamo sought to control its traditional heartlands in central and northern provinces but it faces the waning popularity of its candidate, Ossufo Momade, and a challenge from the younger opposition party, the MDM.
On 18 October 2019, the US embassy expressed "significant concerns regarding problems and irregularities" during the voting and counting which "raise questions about the integrity of these procedures and their vulnerability to possible fraudulent acts." The European Union's election observation mission said "an unlevel playing field was evident throughout the campaign. The ruling party dominated the campaign in all provinces and benefitted from the advantages of incumbency." Observers noted several incidents across the country where people were found trying to enter polling stations with extra ballots marked for Frelimo.
African observer missions were more sanguine, with both the African Union team led by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and the Southern Africa bloc SADC praising the poll for being peaceful and well organised. "We commend [the electoral commission] and the state for conducting successful, peaceful and orderly elections," SADC mission chief Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told journalists. "Parties and people must be patient and remain committed to Peace as the results are being compiled for validation," said Muchinguri-Kashiri, who is Zimbabwe's defence minister.
Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi was re-elected after a landslide victory, official results announced on 27 October 2019 confirmed. The elections took place earlier this month and the announcement revealed Nyusi won with 73% of the vote. In a speech given to cheering supporters in the capital Maputo, Nyusi said he would further develop Mozambique and hasten the implementation of a two-month-old peace deal with Renamo — a rebel group turned opposition party. Frelimo won 184 seats, with Renamo securing 60 seats and the MDM party getting the remaining six in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was at 51%, according to the electoral commission. The result means Frelimo are "stronger than ever. A third term is possible, despite the constitution curbing a president to a maximum two terms. But a two-thirds majority in parliament would allow Frelimo to re-adjust the constitution without needing the agreement of the opposition.
Renamo disputed the legitimacy of the results, claiming fraud and intimidation tactics were deployed by Nyusi's ruling party. The US Embassy joined in the skepticism over the result, saying its observers "witnessed a number of irregularities and vulnerabilities during the voting and the first stages of the tabulation process." The peace deal signed between Frelimo and Renamo in August sought to end a long history of conflict, including a 1975-1992 civil war that saw nearly a million people killed. In the deal Frelimo agreed to allow Mozambique's 10 provinces elect governors for the first time.
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