Maputo — Mozambicans vote Wednesday between the party that has dominated their country's political landscape for nearly 50 years or something different. Whoever wins will inherit major challenges, including an insurgency in the oil and gas-rich area of Cabo Delgado.
Voters braved morning rain in Maputo to line up as early as 7:00 am to cast their ballots.
They have four candidates to choose from; Daniel Chapo, the ruling Frelimo party leader; Ossufo Momade, the candidate of one main opposition party that came in second in the last presidential election; Lutero Simango, the leader of the Mozambique Democratic Movement and Venancio Mondlane, an independent who seems popular among youth.
Aslak Ore, a researcher on Mozambique at the Christian Michelsen Institute in Norway, said that while supporters of Mondlane have shown excitement, he still faces stiff challenges.
"There's been a lot of enthusiasm about his candidature, however he doesn't have the electoral organization of either Renamo or Frelimo. The question is if he's going to be able to convert that obvious enthusiasm among the population... into the votes," he said.
At a polling place at the Josina Machel secondary school in Maputo, 22-year-old Augusto Paz said he waited about an hour, but he had to make sure to vote.
"As a young Mozambican man, I feel like this is important because it might be the choice that would change things in our country. I am talking about healthcare, education, and development in general," he said.
After casting his ballot, Sergio Pantie, a member of parliament and Frelimo supporter, told us he is confident his party will win.
"People continue to love and highly consider Frelimo as an option to continue running this country... the results will prove, once again, that Frelimo is loved and esteemed by the Mozambican people," he said.
Two of the candidates, Momade and Simango, voted at the same polling place where outgoing President Filipe Nyusi casts his ballot.
Former St. Lucia prime minister Dr. Kenny Anthony, who arrived in Maputo on October 2nd, heads the Commonwealth International Observers' delegation. He told VOA his group was still visiting other polling stations and getting reports from other parts of the country. Meanwhile...
"There seems to be some optimism that this is going to be a better administered election than previous elections. Whether that will be the case, I don't know... we've just visited this polling station, and all seem to have gone on very well here," he said.
Whoever wins these elections will inherit many challenges starting with the economy and debt repayments, Ore said.
"It's between 12 and 14 billion dollars in external debt. Recently they have been able to pay back much of that debt, but they have done so by way of accumulating a lot of domestic debt. The state takes up loans from the banking system and institutions locally, so they are accumulating debt at the same time as they are paying back the external debt," said Ore.
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In addition to debt challenges, the government has been battling an insurgency in the gas- and oil-rich Cabo Delgado province, where about 4,000 people have been killed and about 1 million displaced since 2017, hindering multibillion-dollar oil and gas projects.
Some countries, including Rwanda, have stepped in recently to help quell the insurgency -- an act that Adriano Nuvunga, a social activist and director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Mozambique, disagrees with.
"Mozambique, big as it is, massive as it is... 33 million people... but it needs to import soldiers from Rwanda to protect its sovereignty... Rwanda, a tiny country of 13 million people to protect us here," said Nuvunga.
Ruling party candidate Chapo said if he wins, securing the Cabo Delgado area will be his top priority because without security, there is no development he recently told supporters.
Nuvunga said while Frelimo was seen as a liberation movement 50 years ago, times have changed.
"The people here, they have nothing to do with what people did five decades ago. It's about today; are you able to put in place credible policies and put in place a credible system of governance that would work for the people," said Nuvunga.
More than 17 million people are registered to vote.
