Mozambique's post-election chaos: New leader Chapo's first challenge
Protesters burn a Frelimo flag during a nationwide strike called by Mozambique presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane to protest the provisional results of an October 9 election, in Maputo, Mozambique, October 21, 2024.
Mozambique is facing unprecedented post-election chaos, including violent protests across the country, which rights watchdogs say could test the resolve of the country's security apparatus to respect the law and civil liberties.
But it is really a test for Daniel Chapo, Mozambique's president-elect, who won this month's election with more than 70 percent of the vote. He will not formally take power from Filipe Nyusi until January.
However, the violent protests could derail plans to form a government, which will also have to deal with the pressing issue of an insurgency in the north of the country. Chapo is from Frelimo, the party that has ruled the country since independence in 1975. It has had to contend with armed rebellions in the past.
This time, a civil protest has grown out of dissatisfaction with the election results, which some opposition groups say were rigged. Rights watchers say the government's response could make matters worse.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday that Mozambican security forces' violent crackdown on protesters “has severely increased political tensions following the country’s elections”.
“Mozambican authorities should promptly and impartially investigate alleged misuse of force and hold those responsible accountable,” said Allan Ngari, HRW's Africa advocacy director.
President Nyusi said on Monday that the country’s security agencies would respect the right to demonstrate and air grievances.
In an online meeting with the diplomatic corps, he said violence would be unacceptable.
“There is no room in Mozambique for us to be fighting. Our appeal is for us all to be united and cohesive, focused on the development of the country, using the laws,” he said.
The protests began on Thursday, the day Frelimo's victory was declared. But there had been tensions a few days earlier after a legal adviser to an independent candidate and a senior official of the opposition party Podemos were assassinated in Maputo by unidentified gunmen.
Ferosa Zacarias, head of the Mozambican Bar Association's Human Rights Commission, warned that the post-election situation was turning into a kind of war zone. "It seems that we are in a war where the enemy is the demonstrators," she said.
“The protesters – like the opposition parties – are only alleging electoral fraud and are calling for a recount or a new vote,” it said, urging the authorities to listen to their grievances rather than suppress them.
The Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD) also assessed the chaos, concluding that the country's police had committed human rights violations, killed 11 citizens and detained at least 452 people so far as a result of the post-election chaos.
The Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) said that on Wednesday it had assisted in the release of 85 people detained for protesting.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the CDD called for an immediate end to police violence and the release of all those unjustly detained, stressing that "peace, justice and the dignity of the Mozambican people are at stake".
Both organisations urged the international community to press the Mozambican government to respect fundamental rights and allow peaceful protests to take place without violent interference.
According to the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique, the country has lost 1.4 billion meticais (about $2.19 million) as a result of the halt in economic activity caused by the post-election demonstrations.
José Gama, a political analyst in Maputo, said the protests were largely a symptom of weak electoral management systems. He said the electoral body and the police had been "hijacked" and lacked the transparency to conduct elections.
The post-election chaos is being fuelled mainly by the opposition party Podemos, which claims to have won the October 9 election.
Venâncio Mondlane, an independent candidate backed by Podemos, had earlier caused a stir by declaring himself president-elect.
The Mozambican police accused Mr Mondlane and the Podemos party of breaking the law and announced on Monday that they were opening criminal proceedings against them. The police also demanded that the party return a gun taken from the police by his supporters.
The police have accused Mr Mondlane and his supporters of setting fire to the police station and taking possession of AK-47 firearms, acts that have caused turmoil not only in the district of Moma but also in the province of Nampula.
On Monday, President Filipe Nyusi took the opportunity to express his feelings against Mr Mondlane for "declaring himself the winner of the elections while the tabulation was underway".
"Where has this even been allowed?" President Nyusi asked.
Mozambique's post-election chaos intensified a week after the polls when Mr Mondlane's legal adviser, Elvino Dias, was shot dead, along with a senior representative of the Podemos party, Paulo Guambe.
The international community in Maputo has widely linked the barbaric murders of the duo to the ruling Frelimo party, and the head of state responded to this criticism on Monday.
“If they [international community] already have conclusions about the murders of Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe, let them give us the evidence so that we can hold the criminals responsible as a state,” President Nyusi said.
The Podemos party, which says it accepts the results of the elections, is showing that it can take the political fight to a new level.
On Sunday it filed a lawsuit demanding a recount of the election results after the country's National Electoral Commission (CNE) declared the ruling Frelimo party and its candidate Daniel Chapo the winners.
Frelimo, for its part, is showing that it has local and international allies. Angola, China, South Africa and Zimbabwe have all congratulated the party and its candidate on the victory announced by the CNE.
The European Union has been more cautious and analytical. Its observer mission in Mozambique said the election results had been "altered".
For the long-standing opposition party Renamo, the elections were not free and fair and it has called for them to be annulled, which could also lead to further protests.
Its leader, Mr Ossufo Momade, who came third, said "these were not elections. It was a crime, a flagrant disregard and violation of fundamental rights".
Mr Momade listed irregularities such as ballot box stuffing, the infiltration of false minutes and notices, the manipulation of election results, numerical discrepancies between district notices and polling stations.
