Maputo — Venancio Mondlane, the independent candidate in the Mozambican presidential election scheduled for 9 October, declared on Sunday that, since he could no longer be candidate of the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD), which has been barred from the elections, he regarded himself as candidate of the entire Mozambican people.
Mondlane was speaking to a crowd of CAD supporters at Maputo airport, on his return from a trip to Europe.
He had once been a prominent figure in the main opposition party, Renamo, and was the Renamo candidate for mayor of Maputo in last year's municipal elections. He had hoped to be the Renamo candidate for President, but the Renamo leadership prevented him from attending the party's congress in mid-May.
Mondlane resigned from Renamo and successfully collected the 10,000 supporting signatures he needed to stand as an independent in the elections. CAD backed him and presented a slate of candidates for the parliamentary and provincial elections, also scheduled for 9 October.
But first the National Elections Commission (CNE), and then the Constitutional Council, the country's highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, decreed that CAD's registration to participate in the elections was "absolutely invalid'. The coalition, initially set up in 2018, had changed its composition, and had rewritten the pact to which its members had committed themselves, but had failed to notify the Ministry of Justice, the state body in charge of registering political parties, of these changes. This was enough for the CNE and the Constitutional Council to bar CAD from the elections.
Mondlane claimed that CAD was the victim of an unholy alliance between Renamo, the ruling Frelimo party, the CNE and the Constitutional Council.
"Are we going to allow the will of the people to be stolen once again?', he asked. "So we warn them that we are not going to retreat, and the exclusion of CAD has plunged the justice system into mourning'.
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"I must thank the Constitutional Council and the CAD', said Mondlane ironically, "because previously I was just the candidate of CAD, but now they have given me the privilege of becoming the candidate of the Mozambican people'.
He spoke of a candidature much broader than the CAD. This may mean that he intends to court one or more of the other small opposition parties for their support. These parties are already registered to take part in the elections, and have submitted lists of candidates.
Mondlane promised to give more details in the near future. "We want to bring together not only political parties, but also professional classes and civil society', he said.
Although both the CNE and the Constitutional Council claim to be independent and impartial bodies, in fact they are dominated by the political parties represented in parliament, particularly by the ruling Frelimo Party.
Mondlane promised that, as from next Wednesday, he will head demonstrations throughout the country against the exclusion of CAD from the elections
"We shall hold the first demonstration on Wednesday at midday', he said. "We shall paint our hands black, and anyone who doesn't have paint can use charcoal. Wherever we are, we shall go onto the streets and raise our hands painted black to show that we are attending the funeral of justice'.
On Wednesday evening, Mondlane continued, CAD members should gather, at 20.00, in the main squares of the cities, to light candles and "decree the funeral of democracy'.
In the coming days, he said, CAD will meet to draw up its strategy, which will then be divulged in the media.
