PREVIEW
The opposition Podemos leader promises to return to Maputo before Daniel Chapo’s swearing-in and plans his own inauguration
Mozambique is set for a showdown this week after Venâncio Mondlane, the presidential candidate of the opposition Partido Otimista pelo Desenvolvimento de Moçambique (Podemos), announced that he will return to the country on 9 January after more than two months in voluntary exile.
Mondlane will land ahead of the planned swearing-in of Daniel Chapo as president on 15 January and has encouraged supporters to greet him at the airport in Maputo. His supporter are organising an alternative inauguration for him. Chapo, the candidate of the ruling Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo), was confirmed as the winner of the 9 October presidential elections by the Constitutional Court last month.
Mondlane has rejected the official court-confirmed election results, which awarded Chapo 65% of the vote to his 24%, a tally widely disputed by international election observers. (AC Vol 65 No 22, Fears mount as election row escalates & Dispatches 31/12/24, The fight over the Presidency escalates). He left Mozambique following the assassination of two senior party lawyers who were on their way to file detailed legal objections to the official election results in October.
Attempts by South Africa to mediate talks between Frelimo and Podemos have failed to make any progress and Mondlane did not attend a short meeting with outgoing President Filipe Nyusi and other opposition leaders in December (Dispatches 27/11/24, Nyusi offers first post-election talks).
Over 280 people have been reported killed in clashes during protests against the election results, while thousands have fled, primarily to South Africa, to escape both violence and the economic damage caused by the post-election demonstrations.
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