Maputo — Reeling from his crushing defeat in Wednesday's general elections, Afonso Dhlakama, the leader of Mozambique's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, has threatened "to take power by force".

Dhlakama left Maputo on Thursday for the northern city of Nampula where he has been living for much of this year.

On arrival, he told reporters that he would only accept election results that were "free, fair and transparent, and not thefts, as in the past".

"Either we (Renamo) govern, or we don't govern because we have really lost the elections", he said. "The patience of Mozambicans is coming to an end".

Twice in this statement, broadcast on the main Radio Mozambique evening news, Dhlakama implied that he was about to return to war. He claimed there were only two choices: "Either it's the end of democracy in Mozambique, or we take power by force".

He claimed there had been many irregularities in the election, particularly that a large number of people had been unable to vote in coastal districts of Nampula province. There had been "prepared manoeuvres" in the coastal cities of Nacala and Angoche.

Asked by AIM for his reaction to these remarks, Edson Macuacua, the Central Committee Secretary for Mobilisation and Propaganda of the ruling Frelimo Party, declared "we vehemently condemn this kind of inflammatory statement which is an assault against the basic norms of the rule of law".

He pointed out that, under the Mozambican constitution, sovereignty lies with the people, which "all politicians should accept the will of the people as expressed through the vote".

Macuacua called on Dhlakama "to reconcile himself with democratic culture. There is no place in Mozambique for anyone to use force to gain access to political power".

The results from the polling stations announced so far suggest an overwhelming victory for Frelimo and for the incumbent president, Armando Guebuza. Dhlakama may still come second, but with less than 20 per cent of the votes.