Elections in Mozambique

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in protests since the presidential election results were announced on Oct. 24, declaring Frelimo candidate Daniel Chapo as the outright winner, with the opposition planning what it says will be the biggest protests across the capital Maputo.

The October elections saw the little-known Chapo, candidate of the governing Frelimo (Mozambique Liberation Front), win by a massive landslide. Frelimo also improved its parliament majority in the 250-seat cabinet.

Mondlane, who was Chapo’s closest challenger among three other candidates, won 24 percent of the vote, judges said on Monday. The politician, however, claims that he won 53 percent, going by his party’s tally. Podemos also claims to have won 138 seats in parliament, as opposed to the 31 seats initially announced by the National Election Commission (CNE).

Frelimo has governed Mozambique since the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975. The party’s leaders, including outgoing President Filipe Nyusi, fought in the country’s liberation war, meaning that Frelimo was highly revered by most older members of the population who experienced the war.

However, opposition candidate Mondlane, and his allied party, Podemos (Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique), who have strong support among Mozambique’s youth population, claim the results were rigged. The country has one of the youngest populations in the world with 56 percent of the population aged 19 and below.

Mozambican authorities have threatened to deploy soldiers to quell post-election protests that have engulfed the country after the opposition rejected the results of the country’s polls which saw the governing Frelimo party extend its 49-year rule.

Human rights group Amnesty International said over 30 people have died and hundreds more injured and arrested since the beginning of the protests. It described the government’s reaction as the country’s worst crackdown on protests in years.