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MOZAMBIQUE-VOTE
Mozambique local elections to test peace progress
MAPUTO, Oct 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Mozambique holds local elections Wednesday
in a vote that could test progress in the country’s peace talks after the
ruling Frelimo party was accused of violence and intimidation during the
campaign.
The main opposition Renamo party, which has maintained an armed wing since
the end of the country’s civil war, is running in the municipal polls for the
first time in 10 years.
Renamo fought a brutal 16-year civil war against the Marxist-inspired
Frelimo government that devastated the economy and left one million people
dead. When the war ended in 1992, the group soon began participating in
elections.
In 2013, a wave of fresh violence erupted between Renamo rebels and
government troops, raising fears of a return to civil war. But three years
later, the party declared a truce and opened fresh peace talks with the
government.
It is now hoping for a breakthrough ahead of next year’s general election,
but recent electoral reforms could leave the opposition vote split.
The 13-day election campaign ended on Sunday after outbreaks of violence
between rival party supporters.
Police said 26 people had been arrested in the campaign, almost all of them
reportedly supporters of Renamo.
Ahead of the vote, a police officer, who is also a local Frelimo leader,
allegedly shot a rival Renamo supporter in Tete province ahead of the vote.
But nobody has been arrested.
– Retaliation fears –
Renamo supporters say they have faced intimidation and assaults during the
campaign, raising tensions ahead of the ballot.
“Our members and sympathisers are asking for the party’s leadership (to)
intervene in their defence since the police do nothing,” Renamo’s acting
leader Ossufo Momade last week.
Speaking to AFP, Domingos do Rosario, a politics professor at Eduardo
Mondlane University in Maputo, warned that the party felt under attack and
could well retaliate.
“Renamo thinks it is being persecuted and may act accordingly to defend
itself,” he told AFP.
On Wednesday, the vote will be held in Mozambique’s 53 municipalities, 49
of which are currently governed by Frelimo.
The four other municipalities — among them the cities of Beira, Nampula
and Quelimane — were won by the second opposition MDM party in the last
elections.
– Civil war legacy –
“All the apparatus of the state will have been put into action to make sure
the elections are won by Frelimo. If that happens, the level of violence will
increase,” Do Rosario told AFP.
But he predicted that the peace process would stay on track ahead of the
2019 general election.
President Filipe Nyusi and Momade have recently made progress on the
disarmament and integration of former Renamo rebels into the police and army
— which had been a key sticking point for the peace talks.
Since 2016, the government has been in talks with Renamo, although the
group’s leader Afonso Dhlakama — who played a key role in opening
negotiations with Nyusi — died in May from a suspected heart attack.
“The Mozambican authorities should… address immediately the allegations
that security forces are intimidating and attacking opposition supporters,”
Zenaida Machado, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, told AFP.
“Failing to do so may lead to an environment of fear, distrust and tension
on voting day, which could have a negative impact.”
Parliament approved new electoral laws in July that means that a simple or
relative majority is sufficient for a candidate to win election.
Previously, an absolute majority of over 50 percent of votes was needed.
“The new legislation was strategically prepared to benefit Frelimo,” said
Adriano Nuvunga, also a professor at Eduardo Mondlane University.
“Renamo and MDM are going to run for the same segment of electorate. It is
enough for Frelimo to get 40 percent of the votes to win.”
As well as the internal political tensions, Mozambique has been rocked over
the last year by the emergence of an Islamist insurgency in the northern
province of Cabo Delgado, which has rich off-shore gas deposits.
Scores of civilians and police have been killed in militant assaults
despite a security crackdown.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1905 HRS