Good afternoon. It is too early to say who won each of Mozambique’s elections yesterday, but some shapes are starting to become clear through the cloud of results.
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The latest from Zitamar News:
Rene Lavanchy
First of all, it is obvious that Venâncio Mondlane has put in an impressive performance in the presidential election. Even if he has not won the most votes, in that case he has certainly come second to Daniel Chapo, the candidate of ruling party Frelimo. And that in itself is a remarkable achievement. Readers will recall that, five months ago, Mondlane was still a member of Renamo, Mozambique’s biggest opposition party, and was trying to run for party leader. He joined one political grouping, the Democratic Alliance Coalition, only to find that group being shut out of the elections by the pro-Frelimo electoral authorities. At the last minute, Mondlane announced he was being supported by the minor Podemos party. Since then, he has had to conjure up a presidential campaign from scratch, without the benefit of an established party machine of the sort Frelimo and Renamo have. He has lacked funding — the authorities failed to hand over half of the state funding Podemos was entitled to — and manpower.
