by Bayano Valy – SANF 04 no 116
Mozambique’s Elections Commission (CNE) has finally confirmed what was an open secret – the winner of the 1-2 December poll is the ruling Frelimo party and its presidential candidate, Armando Guebuza.
Guebuza garnered 2,426,000 votes (63.74 percent). His closest contender, the leader of the Renamo opposition party, Afonso Dhlakama, totalled 998,059 votes (31.74 percent).
The president-elect did even better than President Joaquim Chissano’s victories in the two previous elections.
Raul Domingos, who broke away from Renamo after a dispute with Dhlakama, and went on to form his own party, Peace, Democracy and Development (PDD), was a distant third with 2.73 percent of the vote.
Although 15 parties contested the elections, only two will have deputies to the 250-seat Assembly of the Republic, the country’s parliament – only parties that cross the five percent threshold can send deputies to parliament.
Frelimo collected 1,889,054 votes (62.03 percent), corresponding to 160 seats. Renamo won the remaining 90 seats.
Frelimo’s tally increased substantially from 133 in the 1999 poll while Renamo dropped seats from 117 in the previous election.
Frelimo has made substantial gains in territories long considered to be Renamo’s stronghold. It has won seats from Renamo in Sofala and Zambezia, two and four respectively.
The ruling party surpassed Renamo in the largest constituency of Nampula, and Tete. Renamo failed to make strong gains in Frelimo’s stronghold, in southern Gaza – failing to get not even a single deputy.
However, in Maputo province Renamo did manage to gain one more seat up from one.
The CNE’s chairperson, Rev Arão Litsuri, said that turnout was a low 36 percent. This might have weighed heavily on Frelimo’s mind.
Veronica Macamo, Frelimo’s representative at the announcement ceremony, told reporters that “it’s a great responsibility.”
“The people have shown continued trust in us, and have great expectations … we should not disappoint,” said Macamo.
For veteran politician Marcelino dos Santos, the win meant one thing: there is only one people’s party in Mozambique, and that’s Frelimo.
He told SANF that “the Mozambican people have reaffirmed history by showing that this country can only support one people’s party, and that party is Frelimo.”
Consequently, the slide towards a de facto single party state should be celebrated because “it’s the demands of history.”
The absolute majority in parliament will give Frelimo leverage to pass its policies unopposed, and dos Santos added that good times lie ahead for Mozambicans.
But this should not be empty rhetoric. Frelimo needs to come up with policies to improve the lot of Mozambicans.
The first priority will be to fight poverty – a 2004 United Nations Human Development Report estimates that about 38 percent of Mozambicans live on less than a dollar a day.
More jobs will have to be created to boost the current levels of over 521,000. This is just five percent of those in the active age group.
Guebuza’s government has also to tackle corruption head-on. The promises he made during campaigning are about issues that require urgent implementation.
HIV/AIDS is an issue that Frelimo has to face, and mobilise society to participate in the fight against the scourge.
But the opposition has already said it will not recognise the outcome of the general elections.
Fernando Mazanga, Renamo’s spokesperson, told reporters that “we’ll appeal the decision before the Constitutional Court.”
The opposition claims that the elections were rigged. The claims appeared to be supported by some observers’ reports which said that in some places there was evidence of ballot box stuffing, while in others votes intended for Dhlakama and Renamo were spoiled maliciously.
However, both national and international observers believe that although “irregularities, some of them serious” marred the election, they are not on such a scale as to affect the result of the elections.
Mazanga said that the results “open a dark page in the history of Mozambican democracy.”
Furthermore, he added that Renamo will not take up seats in parliament. This would result in forfeiture of their parliamentary wages.
For his party, Raul Domingos said that “it’s a threat to democracy.”
Other parties have been more radical in their speeches. Mussagy Magalhães of the Independent Party of Mozambique (PIMO) said that the people would demand justice by coming out in the streets to complain about the election results.
The opposition has in the past threatened to boycott parliamentary sessions, but such moves were short-lived with the deputies eventually taking up their place in the national assembly. (SARDC)
