Among other alleged acts of election rigging, the tightly Frelimo-controlled electoral authorities registered hundreds of thousands of voters more than the numbers of eligible voters, some election analysts said.

Mozambique's main opposition party, Renamo, probably never stood a chance. It would have needed ghostbusters to really beat the ruling Frelimo in this week's Mozambique elections. That's because legions of "ghost voters" were decisive, if not in securing victory for the ruling party, then at least in giving it the landslide which now looks inevitable, a seasoned election analyst said.

Frelimo's overkill may well collapse the recent peace deal with Renamo, which has pulled out of the vote count, crying foul.

Though results are not yet official, Frelimo's apparent triumph - with sitting President Filipe Nyusi likely to win about 71% of the vote and Frelimo a two-thirds majority in Parliament - has surprised many Mozambique observers because the party was widely perceived to be unpopular.

The result has reinforced the belief among many Mozambicans and some outside analysts that the vote rigging was even greater than usual in a country where the ballot has never been regarded as completely secure.

Edson Cortez, head of Mozambique's Centre for Public Integrity, said...