AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - Clashes after the murder of two opposition figures

Maputo (Agenzia Fides) - "We call on all those involved to exercise restraint while the competent authorities carry out their investigations," said Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of Tanzania and Chair of the Political, Defense and Security Cooperation Committee of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), following the violent clashes that took place yesterday, October 21, in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.
Following the murder of two representatives of the Podemos party, Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe, clashes broke out between demonstrators and the police. The two politicians were shot dead in an ambush in the center of Maputo by several men in their car. Elvino Dias was a lawyer hired by Podemos leader Venancio Mondlane to file a complaint with the Constitutional Court for alleged electoral fraud in the presidential election held on October 9 (see Fides, 9/10/2024). The final election results are due to be announced this week, but projections of the election have already been published, according to which the FRELIMO party, in power since independence in 1975, is in the lead with 65% of the vote (and 162 deputies) and its candidate Daniel Chapo has won the presidential race. The big surprise was the second place of Podemos, which obtained 43 deputies in the unicameral parliament, relegating the historic opposition party Renamo to third place, which obtained only 23 deputies (in the previous legislature it had 69).
SADC, meanwhile, notes in the statement by Samia Suluhu Hassan that "the elections were peaceful". She calls on the Tanzanian authorities to "take all necessary measures to investigate the killing of the two Podemos members". In addition to Maputo, where shops remained closed yesterday, incidents also occurred in several other cities, in particular in Beira and Pemba, where shops also remained closed. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 22/10/2024)

Share:

elections

---

---

violence

---

---