The Mozambican Government appealed, yesterday, for serenity, in the face of the marches that have taken place to contest the results of the local elections on 11 October, considering them “very normal”, as long as the laws are respected.
“I think the process is running normally and, as long as they are carried out within the law, the marches are very normal within our legal framework”, declared Filimão Suaze, spokesman for the Council of Ministers of Mozambique, on Tuesday, to night, moments after a meeting of the body in Maputo.
Opposition parties, especially Renamo, have been promoting marches across the country to challenge the results of the October 11 elections, bringing together thousands of people who denounce alleged “mega-fraud” in the ballot.
In Maputo, district courts annulled the vote at some polling stations, alleging several irregularities, notably the falsification of notices. Of the 65 municipalities, at least two had already annulled, by court decision, the vote in those municipalities due to alleged irregularities, namely Cuamba, in the province of Niassa, and Chokwé, in the province of Gaza, a decision classified as historic in Mozambican elections.
For the spokesperson for the Mozambican Council of Ministers, at this time, it is essential to maintain “serenity”, letting the justice bodies do their work. “What can be done is to advise [people] to remain calm and continue to follow the decisions that have been taken by the justice bodies”, concluded Fleimão Suaze.
Hours earlier, the Mozambican Constitutional Council considered the order that invalidated the local elections in Chokwé null and void, declaring that it is the sole responsibility of the body to annul ballots, although it admits the existence of irregularities raised by the opposition that will be evaluated in a “proper process”.
The Institute for Multiparty Democracy (IMD), a Mozambican non-governmental organization, considered the participation of young people in the marches taking place in the country to protest against the results of the local elections on 11 October to be “extremely positive”. “Having young people demanding rights on the street is extremely positive and political parties must capitalize on this massive involvement of young people in demanding rights because they are effectively people who can transform national politics”, said Lorena Mazive, program coordinator at IMD, quoted by Lusa on the sidelines of a debate on the “Youth Agenda in Local Government”.
Police deny Samora Machel’s son
The Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) rejected on Tuesday the accusations of having killed four citizens accused by Samora Machel Júnior, son of the first Mozambican President, Samora Machel, in a letter condemning “unpatriotic acts” by Frelimo, party in power.
APRM “regrets, denies and vehemently condemns information circulated on social media and subsequently disseminated by some media outlets, reporting that the Police of the Republic of Mozambique had fatally shot four individuals in the district of Chiúre, in the province of Cabo Delgado “, said Orlando Mudumane, spokesperson for this Police, quoted by public broadcaster Rádio Moçambique. Mudumane said that the authorities have records of an accidental attack by the police on a 19-year-old citizen, on October 12, when “he saw in the contingency of acting to put an end to a serious riot carried out by members and supporters of political parties”. Without mentioning the name of Samora Machel Júnior, the spokesperson for the PRM General Command declared that the corporation will legally demand evidence of the alleged deaths of four people in Chiúre.
In the aforementioned letter, published on the 19th, the politician Samora Machel Júnior, son of Samora Machel and member of the Central Committee of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), assumed “total disagreement” and “disdain” towards the “anti-patriotics” involving the party in the local elections on October 11.