16 November 2009
Maputo — In Mozambique's first elections for provincial assemblies, held simultaneously with the general elections on 28 October, the detailed results show that the ruling Frelimo Party won in 137 of the 141 district constituencies.
The opposition won in just four districts. The main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, won in Alto Molocue, Milange and Morrrumbala in Zambezia province, while the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) won in the city of Beira.
In 67 of the constituencies Frelimo won 100 per cent of the vote because it was unopposed. This was mainly because Renamo downgraded the provincial elections and concentrated on ensuring that all its candidates for the parliamentary elections had their paperwork in good order.
Many of the Renamo candidates in the provincial elections were rejected because they lacked the necessary documents, notably the certificate proving that they had lived in the province for at least six months.
Renamo apparently accepted this decision of the National Elections Commission, for it did not complain against the exclusion to the appeals body, the Constitutional Council.
In the 70 districts where Frelimo won in a contested campaign, it took between 90 and 100 per cent of the vote in 12 of them, between 80 and 90 per cent in 17, between 70 and 80 per cent in 18, between 60 and 70 per cent in 13, and between 50 and 60 per cent in ten.
The upshot of this is that Frelimo will have an absolute majority in all ten provincial assemblies. In two of them - Inhambane and Gaza - it faces no opposition at all. Renamo only stood in two districts in Inhambane and one in Gaza, and did not elect any deputies in any of them.
In Maputo province, the Assembly will have 75 Frelimo deputies and five from Renamo. In the northern province of Cabo Delgado, Frelimo has 73 seats and Renamo eight, while in the neighbouring province of Niassa there are 66 seats for Frelimo and two each for Renamo and the MDM.
In the largest of the assemblies, in Nampula, Frelimo has 78 seats, Renamo 11 and the MDM two, while in Zambezia Frelimo has 57 seats and Renamo 31. In Tete, Frelimo elected 75 deputies and Renamo five, and in Manica Frelimo has 61 seats and Renamo 19.
In Sofala, the main opposition is the MDM, with 20 seats in the provincial assembly to 59 for Frelimo and just one for Renamo.
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