Renamo's Political Commission called for demonstrations in all 65 municipalities on Tuesday. The Commission met today (Sunday 15 Oct) in an extraordinary session and concluded that there was "mega fraud" in the elections and that it won. The Political Commission accuses President Nyusi and the Frelimo party of orchestrating the manipulation of the election results with a view to "creating an atmosphere of war in order to remain in power illegitimately".
In the statement Renamo lists irregularities in the 11 October elections, including:
In several municipalities, the voter registration lists delivered to the political parties were different from those in the polling stations, which prevented the monitoring and control of the vote by the Renamo delegates;
"In almost all the municipalities when the results gave Renamo a large lead, the police invaded the polling stations with gunfire and tear gas to interrupt the counting in progress, and in a continuous act collected ballot boxes, minutes and results sheets (editais) and took them to an unknown place without the accompaniment of the party agents, polling stations staff and observers"; "In almost all the municipalities, STAE produced new editais and new minutes, some of which were falsified, and forced the presidents of the polling stations to sign them"; "In almost all the municipalities, the presidents of the polling stations were instructed not to hand over the minutes and editais to the Renamo polling station poll watchers", and the editais were not posted on the polling station door. Both are required by law.
"Hundreds of ballot papers pre-marked in favour of the Frelimo party were discovered and denounced in many municipalities;" The police illegally detained Renamo representatives, including party poll wtchers in several municipalities.
Renamo considers this an authentic denial of free, fair and transparent elections and of the truth expressed at the ballot box, "We do not accept and repudiate all the election results that are being published" and will file appeals with the courts and the National Elections Commission.
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Renamo's demonstration Tuesday is on the anniversary of the death of its founder André Matsangaiça.
MDM Re-Elected in Beira
The only opposition victory so far accepted is in Beira, where MDM was declared victor and will remain in power. MDM won with 112,963 votes (58%), followed by Frelimo 73,302 (38%) and then Renamo 7,045 (4%).
Results are being announced by the district election commissions and are not collected in a central place. We have pulled together election results as posted by 48 of the 65 district election commissions. These are election commission reports, not observer reports, and many are contested. They are available on https://bit.ly/Moz-El-Res1
Unknown Assailants Rob Police Station and Seize Firearms in Manhiça
Ten armed men attacked the 3 de Fevereiro police station in Manhiça, Maputo province, on Saturday night (14 Oct). They pretended to be about to lodge a complaint, but surprisingly displayed pistols and threatened the officers, pressuring them to hand over their weapons.
With no alternative and no ability to react, the officers finally gave in. The individuals took possession of an AK47 and a pistol.
The assault on the police station took place at a time when the country is experiencing political instability as a result of fraudulent local elections.
