Maputo — A group of 15 minor extra-parliamentary parties on Wednesday declared their support for the Mayor of Beira, and candidate of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), Daviz Simango, in his bid for the Presidency.

The list of parties circulated at the Wednesday press conference contained the names of 22 small organisations, but only 15 actually signed. They include several parties whom the National Elections Commission (CNE) excluded from standing in all or some of the 13 parliamentary constituencies, because their candidates did not deliver the necessary paperwork. But others on the list, such as PUPI and PDNM, are so obscure that AIM must admit to not knowing what their acronyms stand for.

Initially this group had called for a boycott of the 28 October elections, and some even put their names to documents demanding that the international community impose sanctions against Mozambique.

They have now changed their minds, and intend to campaign for Simango. In a declaration read out by Francisco Campira, leader of PASOMO (Social Broadening Party), the group announced that Simango "is the candidate who deserves our sympathy, admiration and support, because he shows commitment and vitality in solving the problems of Mozambique. He has given evidence of this in his work as the selfless leader of the Beira municipality".

Campira claimed that, of the three presidential candidates (the others are the incumbent, Armando Guebuza, and Afonso Dhlakama of the main opposition party, Renamo), it was only Simango "who guarantees a hope of a truly inclusive Mozambique, a Mozambique for all, and not just for some, as happens today"

But Campira stressed that the group's support is only for Simango, and does not extend to the MDM's parliamentary candidates in the four constituencies where the CNE accepted its lists. This is doubtless because a few of the minor parties, such as PARENA (National Reconciliation Party), and MPD (Patriotic Movement for Democracy) are standing in some constituencies.

Nonetheless, a couple of the minor party leaders present at the meeting - Manecas Daniel of the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD) and Carlos Reis of the Mozambique National Union (UNAMO) - had been on the MDM lists of candidates that were struck down by the CNE.

Campira claimed that the 25 parties whose names were on the list have a total of 3.5 million members, which would be 35 per cent of the total electorate of 9.8 million. If the parties are so gigantic, it is difficult to understand why PASOMO only won 15,740 votes (0.52 per cent of the total) in the 2004 general election. One of the other parties in this gathering, the United Congress of Democrats (CDU), won just 1,252 votes (0.04 per cent) in 2004.

This group is quite distinct from the "Territorial Platform of Extra-Parliamentary Parties", led by Jose Viana of the Union of Mozambican Democrats (UDM), which is still calling for a boycott, and last week claimed Simango was no different from the other two candidates.