Mozambique’s ruling party Frelimo appeared headed for a landslide victory in presidential and parliamentary elections, initial results and projections by civil society groups showed Thursday.
Frelimo candidate Filipe Nyusi was expected to become president with about 60 per cent of the vote, down from 75 per cent obtained by the party in 2009.
Afonso Dhlakama, the candidate of Frelimo’s historic opponent Renamo, was running second with 32 per cent. Daviz Simango from the five-year-old Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) was doing worse than expected with only 8 per cent.
In the parliamentary elections, Frelimo had 57 per cent of the vote, Renamo 30 per cent, the MDM 12 per cent and other parties 1 per cent.
The preliminary results were based on a vote count in about 8.5 per cent of the country’s polling stations. The final results were due to be announced in two weeks’ time.
Voter turnout was estimated at more than 50 per cent, up from 44 per cent in 2009.
More than 10 million people were eligible to elect the president, parliament and provincial assemblies in the southern African country on Wednesday.
Electoral commission spokesman Paulo Cuinica said four polling stations had been unable to open in a remote area where a helicopter transporting voting materials was unable to land.
Violent incidents were reported in some places, where Renamo supporters protesting the late opening of polling stations or demanding to witness the vote count clashed with police. Several people were reported to have been arrested.
The elections pitted the former independence movement Frelimo, which has governed Mozambique since independence from Portugal in 1975, against Renamo, a former anti-communist movement which waged a 16-year civil war against the initially Marxist Frelimo.
A 1993 peace deal turned Renamo into the biggest opposition party.
In 2012, its leader Dhlakama launched a low-level insurgency, accusing Frelimo of excluding the opposition from economic power.
A peace deal signed in August allowed Dhlakama, 61, to come out of his hideout in the central Gorongosa mountains and run for president.
Frelimo candidate Nyusi, 55, currently defence minister, wants to succeed outgoing President Armando Guebuza, who could no longer run for office after completing two terms.
Frelimo had been expected to win, but analysts had predicted it would lose votes over allegations of corruption and illicit enrichment.
Poverty remains widespread in Mozambique, despite the economy growing at a rate of about 7 per cent as offshore gas finds are fuelling an investment boom.
There was concern that if Renamo does suffer heavy losses, it could relaunch its guerrilla campaign.
Dhlakama, who is seeking the presidency for the fifth time, said that all the previous elections had been fraudulent.
Changes in electoral law guaranteeing the three main parties representation at the electoral commission were expected to increase transparency.
The elections were monitored by observers from the European Union, the Southern African Development Community and the African Union.
GNA
