Mozambique's Renamo wants election results cancelled

Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo on Saturday accused the government of violating a recent peace agreement by using “violence” during the general elections this week and called for the election to be cancelled.

“The ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) (…) has violated the cessation of hostilities agreement, which states that violence and intimidation must not be used in pursuit of political objectives,” writes the Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) in a statement, calling for the 15 October election to be cancelled and “new elections” to be held.

Mozambicans voted on Tuesday in a climate of high tension, following a violent campaign fuelled by accusations of fraud on behalf of the regime by the opposition and civil society.

Renamo also claims that some of its delegates were arrested after surprising election organizers who were distributing more than one Frelimo ballot to voters.

“There have been arbitrary arrests of agents (…) and voters who tried to complain about everything, about the stuffing of ballot boxes, were unable to exercise their right to vote,” Renamo continued in its statement.

The Mozambican Electoral Commission (CNE) began on Friday to publish very partial results of Tuesday’s presidential and legislative elections, which not surprisingly give a large lead to the incumbent president and the ruling party.

These elections were also a test case after the fragile peace agreement reached in August between the ruling party and Renamo, the former civil war rebellion (1975-1992). This agreement was supposed to put an end to their clashes, which have been recurring for more than forty years. But the election campaign rekindled tensions between the two sides.