By Palmira Velasco
Mozambique has been experiencing moments of political tension since the electoral campaign and the eve of the presidential and legislative elections held on October 9th of the current year. National and international observers found that the elections were not fair or peaceful, as it was found that there was fraud both through ballot box stuffing at the behest of the party in power, as well as other irregularities inherent to the voting process.
The polls and the preliminary vote count gave advantages to the candidate of the opposition Podemos party, Venâncio Mondlane, but at some point, the candidate of the ruling party (Frelimo) Daniel Chapo, had the higher percentage of votes in almost the entire country. Faced with these irregularities, the leader of the opposition party (Podemos) Venâncio Mondlane, called for a public and peaceful demonstration to take place on October 21st to challenge the way in which the general elections were held across the country.
Tension rose to a new level last week when two political activists and supporters of the opposition party, Podemos, were savagely murdered in the early hours of October 19th by members of the death squad operating in the country at the behest of the party in power. The murder of the two political activists, Paulo Guambe (representative of the Podemos party) and Elvino Dias (lawyer and advisor to the presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane), was heinous, as they were shot at close range using a firearm. The victims were sprayed with 25 bullets which provoked a wave of popular protests from different professional classes, some national politicians and the international community.
On October 21st, the country came to a standstill. The people took to the streets to protest. As a result, a wave of violence against protesters began. There were deadly shootings and the use of tear gas. Some journalists were not spared by the riot police and military. To disperse the protesters, means such as gas, dog force, firearms, armored vehicles and helicopters were used. The protest situation tends to worsen with the announcement of the results of the general elections, held yesterday, giving victory to Daniel Chapo, from the ruling party, Frelimo. Meanwhile, the Mozambican people have been demonstrating against the murders and the result of the general elections since the morning of 10/24/2024.
