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It's official: Chissano and FRELIMO win Mozambique elections However, the opposition
immediately rejected the election results and threw the country into what
could be a political and constitutional crisis with unpredictable
consequences. Renamo opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama dismissed the results
claiming his former rebel movement would lodge a formal complaint with the
Mozambique Supreme Court. And he warned that if
Frelimo "puts pressure on the Supreme Court to validate these elections
it would be creating conditions for confusion that will make Mozambique
ungovernable." The final results released
by the National Electoral Commission (CNE) show that Frelimo increased its
overall majority in parliament by four seats. In the 1994 election, Frelimo
garnered 129 seats, now it controls 133 after securing 48.54 percent of the
4.1 million valid votes cast. The Renamo-Electoral Union ended up 117 seats
in the 250-member Assembly of the Nation, down by four from the 121 it held
when the elections were called. Renamo got 38.81 percent of the national
vote. In the previous legislature Renamo held 112 seats while the Democratic
Union (UD) a coalition of three small parties held nine seats. The 10 small
parties and two coalitions were wiped out. There was very little
change from the preliminary results announced a week ago in the presidential
elections: Chissano managed to hold on to his narrow lead and won the
elections with 52.29 percent of the votes, against the 47.71 percent secured
by his rival Dhlakama. The difference between the two candidates was just
over 200,000 votes. Speaking shortly after the
CNE's announcement of the results, a visibly pleased Chissano said that his
victory and that of his party were "a vote of confidence in me and
Frelimo to govern the country with the necessary equilibrium and
responsibility." He pledged to appoint a cabinet comprised of
"competent and humble people". CNE chair Jamisse Taimo
made it official at a ceremony marred by the absence of the Renamo
representatives on the commission. The opposition spurned the
election results and asked their five representatives in CNE not to sign the
final documents formalizing the results. Under Mozambique's electoral system
the parties with seats in parliament appoint representatives to the 15-member
CNE, proportional to the number of seats they hold in the house. In dismissing the results
Dhlakama denounced CNE as "democratic farce" despite the fact that
his representatives had been part of the CNE during registration,
campaigning, voting and counting. Dhlakama stopped just
short of stating that Renamo would return to war after exhausting all legal
means at its disposal to reject the elections but warned that "there
were difficult days ahead" and that "today begins a complex period
in the political life of Mozambique". Renamo alleges that there
were serious irregularities during the vote counting and would prepare a list
of the irregularities for its formal complaint before the Supreme Court.
Mozambique's Supreme Court acts as the constitutional court. Dhlakama listed a
litany of complaints including discrepancies between the computerized results
and the lists submitted by the provincial commissions, the fact that their
polling agents refused to sign some of the polling station papers because
they did not agree with the final count at the polling stations and that some
of the lists were not validated by Renamo's agents. The announcement of the
results came after an all-night session of horse trading during which it is
understood that Taimo tried unsuccessfully to persuade Renamo-appointed
members of the CNE to change their minds. Journalists were kept waiting
throughout the night as indications from election officials predicted the
results could be announced "any time" after 2300 hours Tuesday. It
didn't happen and Taimo only arrived after 0800 Wednesday. But Dhlakama claimed that
the chairman of CNE decided unilaterally to announce the results even before
the full results had been compiled. "He disappeared
during the night and went to Frelimo's headquarters to receive orders from
Chissano and came back later and decided to announce the farcical results. I
know that the most comfortable thing to do would be accept the result and
keep quiet. This electoral process is far from over:, he said. Dhlakama refused to
comment on what Renamo's reaction would be should the Supreme Court validate
the results, insisting that the outcome announced today represented
"daylight robbery" orchestrated by Frelimo. "I always said
that I was prepared to accept the democratic rules but I never said I would
accept to be robbed." The delay in announcing
the results had caused anxiety and confusion across the country as the
electorate waited tirelessly for the results to be announced ever since the
vote counting began two weeks ago. Now it appears that when
Mozambicans were getting ready to settle down and get on with their lives,
the country has been thrown into a political turmoil and uncertainty. |
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[Elections '99 || Sustainable Democracy || SARDC] Mail Editorial for comments and queries. |
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