MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Mozambique’s ruling party candidate had a clear early lead presidential elections results Wednesday when his main challenger said he would not accept them and called them fraudulent.
Daniel Chapo of the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, or Frelimo, is on track to win the election and succeed President Filipe Nyusi, who has served a maximum of two terms, according to provincial results. Frelimo is in power in the southern African country since its independence from Portugal in 1975.
Opposition candidate Venancio Mondlane, who is running as an independent, was second to Chapo in the initial count but repeated his claims that last week’s election was marred by fraud and manipulation by Frelimo.
Mondlane also called on Mozambicans to hold a national strike on Monday to protest what he called the “deception at the most shameful level of the regime.”
Frelimo has often been accused of election fraud, which it denies. Many analysts expressed concerns in the run-up to these elections, saying that Frelimo is manipulating voter lists and allowing traditionally loyal officials to work in polling stations.
Mondlane and his supporters held a march in the northern city of Nampula on Wednesday, which was broken up by police. Police said Mondlane did not stick to the agreed route for the march and also accused him of encouraging his supporters to confront officers. Four people have been arrested, police said.
Frelimo has won every national election in Mozambique since the country’s first in 1994. Frelimo came to power at independence but then fought a bloody 15-year civil war against the rebel group Renamo, which later became the main opposition party and also won these elections disputed.
Mondlane was a member of the Renamo party before splitting and running independently months before the elections.
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