Good afternoon. After yesterday's dramatic claim by opposition presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane that he had won Mozambique’s presidential election on Wednesday, there is relative quiet in the aftermath of the elections, but that may not last. The first official results at district level (before votes are added together at provincial and then national level) are due tomorrow, and that will be the first clear opportunity to see if and how ruling party Frelimo proposes to rig the election. For example, the opposition presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane currently looks to be slightly ahead of Frelimo’s Daniel Chapo in the city of Nampula. If the electoral authorities declare a big victory for Chapo in Nampula, that will be highly suspicious.
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That Frelimo is confident of remaining in power by fair means or foul is not in dispute. However, it remains to be seen whether there is a coordinated effort by the party to manipulate the election results, although many individual incidents which look like actual or suspected vote-rigging have been reported. One of the most common is the failure to display the results sheets with vote counts for individual ballot boxes (editais) at polling stations. Zitamar News has also seen sheets filled in using pencil instead of ink, which is not permitted.
