Maputo — The Political Commission of Mozambique's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, began an extraordinary session in the northern city of Nampula on Thursday to define the party's future after its crushing defeat in the general and provincial elections of 28 October.

According to a report in Friday's issue of the independent daily "O Pais", the party's leader, Afonso Dhlakama, said the meeting would have to decide "whether Renamo will manage to survive as a political force in this country; whether democracy will survive, or has ended with the October elections; or whether Renamo, as the force which brought about this democracy, will have to launch a demonstration in protest against all that happened on 28 October".

Dhlakama made it clear that he was in favor of holding demonstrations, but stressed this was not the same thing as going back to war. In an apparent retreat from his immediate reaction to the election results (which was "Mozambique will burn"), Dhlakama said "I want to pledge to the Mozambican people and to the international community that Renamo will never pick up an AK-47 to protest against what has happened".

"But there is a stronger war than that of the AK-47", he continued. "It is the people's revolt, and that will happen".

Such "popular demonstrations" could lead to riots if the government responded with violence, he said. If the government opened fire or tried to disperse demonstrators "Renamo will know how to respond".

The ability of Renamo to hold mass demonstrations, after suffering its worst election defeat so far, must be doubted - particularly since large numbers of Renamo members have abandoned the party and are now to be found in the breakaway Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).

Meanwhile, in Maputo the National Elections Commission (CNE) has forwarded Renamo's appeal against the election results to the Constitutional Council, together with its response to the Renamo accusations. The Council is the body that has the final word in electoral disputes,

The CNE, as expected, rejects all the Renamo claims - many of them on the grounds that they were not submitted on time. Protests at irregularities during the voting or in the initial count at the polling stations should have been submitted within 48 hours - i.e. by 30 October.

According to CNE chairperson Joao Leopoldo da Costa, when he announced the results on 11 November, not a single complaint was received at any polling station.

Renamo's retort is that in many cases, neither polling station presiding officers, nor District Elections Commissions accepted the Renamo protests. Indeed, Renamo points out that in some cases members of district commissions appointed by Renamo were expelled from meetings.

Even more serious, some complaints were accepted and written down by polling station staff - but were then not forwarded to the CNE. European Union observers witnessed staff accept six protests in five districts or cities (Lichinga, Mutarara, Angonia, Chimoio and Quelimane). If Costa claims that no complaints were received, that can only mean that these staff members simply threw the Renamo protests away rather than forwarding them to their superiors.