Maputo — Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party looks set for comfortable victories in Wednesday's municipal elections in the cities of Lichinga and Cuamba, in the northernmost province of Niassa.

In 29 of the 45 polling stations in Cuamba, the Frelimo candidate for mayor, Arnaldo Maloa, won more than five times as many votes as his opponent from the main opposition party, Renamo, Maria Moreno (who is head of the Renamo parliamentary group).

The results in the mayoral election from these stations were:

Arnaldo Maloa (Frelimo): 5,204 Maria Moreno (Renamo) 1,151

Frelimo won by a similar margin in those polling stations in the election for the municipal assembly:

Frelimo: 5,366 Renamo: 1,162.

In Lichinga, with results reported from 20 of the 85 polling stations, Frelimo had established a comfortable margin of victory. The results from these stations in the mayoral poll were:

Augusto Assique (Frelimo): 4,605 Armando Rachide (Renamo): 1,548

Frelimo is also likely to enjoy a comfortable majority in the Lichinga municipal assembly. These polling stations gave the following results for the assembly election:

Frelimo: 4,410 Renamo: 1,410

In the western city of Tete, Frelimo has scored a massive victory. According to Radio Mozambique, the results from 53 of the 91 Tete polling stations were as follows:

Mayoral election

Cesar de Carvalho (Frelimo): 18,900 Celestino Bento (Renamo): 2,845

Municipal Assembly election

Frelimo: 20,223 Renamo: 3,155

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