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| A local walks past a billboard with a picture of Mozambique’s president and leader of the Frelimo Party, Filipe Nyusi, ahead of Tuesday’s provincial and legislative elections, in Maputo, Mozambique, October 11, 2019. REUTERS/Grant Lee Neuenburg/File Photo |
Mozambiqueโs main opposition party Renamo on Tuesday appealed the result of the Oct. 15 general election, calling on the countryโs top court to annul incumbent President Filipe Nyusiโs victory.
Nyusi and his ruling Frelimo party won big in the election, which was hoped would calm tensions in Mozambique, soon to become a top global gas exporter. Instead, the contested result has stoked divisions as opposition parties have cried foul.
โWe want the election results to be annulled because they were not elections. They were a caricature, a circus show,โ Venรขncio Mondlane, a Renamo representative, told Reuters by phone.
โToday we filed the appeal to the Constitutional Council (CC) against the deliberation of the National Election Commission, which we do not agree with. We demand that the CC annul the election results,โ Mondlane said.
It was hoped the election could set the seal on a fragile peace pact, designed to put a definitive end to four decades of violence between Frelimo and Renamo.
The two fought a 16-year civil war that ended in a truce in 1992 but have clashed sporadically since.
Renamo had wanted to win control of a number of provinces in Mozambiqueโs centre and north but came away empty handed.
REUTERS
