Police blame foreign funders for election demonstrations intended to destabilize Mozambique
Mozambican and foreign civil society are financing and orchestrating the protests against election fraud “with the objective of creating widespread chaos and subverting the established constitutional order” and destabilising the nation, said the Deputy General Commander of the Mozambican Police, Fernando Tsucana, speaking at a Maputo press conference Friday 29 November.
He said that obstructing roads and putting up barricades were “subversive acts of terror”. Tsucana also claimed that the “moral authors” of the demonstrations “are taking advantage of the right to demonstrate in order to subvert the legal institutional order”.
Tsucana warned foreign residents in Mozambique, urging them to refrain from participating in activities that could be deemed unlawful or interfere with the country’s internal affairs.
The civil war in Cabi Delgado has continued for seven years because the government continues to blame it on foreign forces, and refuses to recognise the local people are fighting against an elite stealing the resource wealth and leaving nothing for local people..
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Voting was 50 days ago with no results yet, but this is short compared to 91 days in 2019
Mozambique must be the only country in the world where it takes so long to know the results of an election. 50 days have passed since the elections were held, and the results have still not been validated. But it was 91 days five years ago.
The CNE took 15 days to announce the results of the national centralisation. The Constitutional Council has been with the election documents for 35 days, which means the process has so far taken 50 days, but no date has yet been fixed for validating the results.
In 2019 it took until 71 days for the CC to validate the elections; voting was on 14 October and the CC validation was 23 December. But the CC then changed the results twice, on 5 and 12 January, a total of 91 days.
Two southern African countries, Botswana and Mauritius, held elections a few days after Mozambique, and announced in two days that the opposition had won. In Senegal the opposition won 24 March elections, which were validated by the Constitutional Court on 29 March. The three new governments have already taken office. In Somaliland the opposition won the 13 November election and results were announced on 19 November.
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Election results on Christmas eve – or earlier?
The Mozambican Constitution (art150) says that “the President of the Republic shall be sworn into office by the President of the Constitutional Council in a public ceremony before the deputies of the Assembly of the Republic” (Parliament), which means after the parliament takes office. The Constitutional Council (CC) noted In a statement last week that the Constitution (art 85) requires the first session of parliament to “take place within 20 days after the proclamation of the election results”.
The CC continues that “Taking into consideration the fact that the current legislature took office on 12 January 2020 and that it has (…) a five year duration, we are faced with a temporal condition of a constitutional nature which obliges its strict observation by this body”, said the statement.
So if the CC wants to stick with 12 January for the opening of parliament, Monday 23 December is 20 days before 12 January and thus the earliest possible results date. The CC has announced results on Christmas eve before.
But these dates appear to are flexible. Parliament could open earlier and/or fewer than 20 days after announcement of the results, thus in early January or even late December. One suggestion has been 13 December for the results and an opening of parliament just before or just after Christmas.
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Frelimo wants early declaration of victory
Frelimo is pushing the Constitutional Council to announce the election results as soon as possible, so that Daniel Chapo could be inaugurated as president quickly. Some members of the Political Commission and Central Committee believe that Frelimo must remain firm and not yield to pressure from the demonstrators. The radical wing of the Party believes that, after the validation of the results, demonstrations might continue for a few days, but not for very long, as happened with last year’s municipal elections.
Within Frelimo the idea has taken hold that the demonstrations can be resisted without making any changes. Also, some feel the demonstrations headed by Venâncio Mondlane seek to pressure the Constitutional Council and could affect the election results, so Chapo needs to be in office as soon as possible.
After its candidate has taken office, Frelimo plans to begin a revision of the election legislation and of the Constitution itself, to reduce the time for the new parliament to take office, and to fix exact periods for announcing results to avoid prolonged post-election conflicts.
The view of Frelimo supporters is that the demonstrations are having a major impact because the opposition, the victim of election fraud, has more time to organize to contest the results. The long wait also puts pressure on the institutions to change the results.
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Nyusi asks for an end to the violence
President Filipe Nyusi made an appeal on Friday in Gaza and said that citizens need “cool heads” to solve the post-election tensions. He urged young people to focus on the development of the country. He asked for an end to the destruction of infrastructures, and of the deaths of civilians and police agents.
“Let’s stop the destruction!”, he declared. “What we should have allowed to develop but did not develop will weigh on our conscience, because there are countries which no longer know and have no way out because they plunged into confusion and are only deaths, destruction and looting”. But he offered no concessions. (https://www.voaportugues.com/a/presidente-da-rep%C3%BAblica-de-mo%C3%A7ambique-apela-ao-fim-da-viol%C3%AAncia/7881465.html.)
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Podemos takes Government to International Criminal Court
At a press conference, the President of Podemos, Albino Forquilha, announced that criminal proceedings against the Mozambican government have been submitted to the International Criminal Court for the murders of demonstrators. Podemos argues that deliberate orders were given to shoot demonstrators dead.
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Many injured in demonstrations in Nampula
Many people were injured Wednesday and Thursday (27-28 November) in Nampula city, some shot by the security forces during protests against the allegedly fraudulent results of the elections held on 9 October. On Wednesday Mozambican police shot three people dead .
According to Hermenegildo Mulenga, a general surgeon and spokesperson for Nampula Central Hospital (HCN), cited by AIM, some of the victims are in a critical condition and are receiving medical treatment. Others have already been discharged.
In Natiquiri neighbourhood, also in Nampula city, the demonstrators are accused of burning down the local offices of the Frelimo Party.
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Body count
8 killed in 3 days brings total to 90
Eight people were shot and killed by police Wednesday to Friday (27-29 November), according to Plataforma Eleitoral Decide – 4 in Nampula, 3 in Maputo and 1 in Inhambane. Plataforma Decide and ACLED are the two groups keeping count. For the first period, 21 October and 12 November, Decide reported 40 protesters’ deaths while ACLED reported 55 – 15 more. From 13 November, ACLED has paused reporting, while Decide reported 35 deaths. So Decide reports 75 deaths to date, but if we use the higher ACLED number for the earlier period, the number shot dead has risen to 90.
