Mozambique's Mondlane lodges appeal to annul vote in Zimbabwe constituency

Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane has lodged an appeal with the Mozambican Constitutional Council asking for the vote in the Zimbabwean constituency to be declared null and void, claiming that 296,519 Zimbabweans "without active electoral capacity" voted for him.

According to the appeal presented by Judite Simão, Venâncio Mondlane's attorney, it invokes the "nullity of the presidential election" of 9 October in the neighbouring country's constituency, citing data from the report by the Southern Africa Human Rights Lawyers High Commission Mozambique, which states that that number of Zimbabwean citizens voted "illegally".

"If there is a will and interest in examining the matter, steps can be taken with the ministry of the interior to ascertain whether or not the 296,519 voters (…) are Mozambicans with dual nationality," reads the appeal, documented with photos of voter registration cards.

Mozambique's National Electoral Commission (CNE) approved the setting up of 602 polling stations in seven African and two European countries for a total of 331,939 voters registered abroad and eligible to vote in the 9 October presidential and legislative elections.

The country with the largest number of polling stations was neighbouring South Africa, with 359, for 215,831 voters, but the establishment of 60 polling stations in Zimbabwe was also approved.

Venâncio Mondlane disputes the attribution of victory to Daniel Chapo, the candidate supported by the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), with 70.67 % of the vote, according to the results announced on 24 October by the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and which have yet to be validated by the Constitutional Council.

The leaders of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Ossufo Momade, and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), Lutero Simango, the two largest opposition parties and both also candidates for the post of country's president in the October vote, have in recent days called for the elections to be cancelled and repeated, alleging various irregularities in the process.

"Forget it. We want electoral truth. Whoever won, won. Votes can't be negotiated," Venâncio Mondlane said on Tuesday.

On the same day, Mozambican president Filipe Nyusi invited the four presidential candidates to a meeting, including Venâncio Mondlane, and said that the violent post-election demonstrations were creating ‘chaos' and that "spreading fear in the streets" was weakening the country.

"I promise that, until the last day of my mandate, I will use all my energy to pacify Mozambique, I will. But for me to succeed in this mission, we need all of us and each one of you (…) Mozambicans have to be together to solve the problems," said Nyusi, in a message to the nation, lasting around 45 minutes, on the "situation of the country in the post-election period".

Calling for "freedom from selfishness" in this post-election process, the head of state, whose last term ends in January, guaranteed that the government is "open" to "together" finding "a solution" to the current moment, marked by stoppages and demonstrations called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane.

"We even need the different candidates for president. We need the involvement of Lutero Simango, Daniel Chapo, Venâncio Mondlane and Ossufo Momade. We need the involvement of their collaborators and supporters. I want to take this opportunity to invite all of them, those four I spoke of, the candidates, to accept my call to meet with the four of them, to jointly assess this situation and find a solution that benefits Mozambicans," said Nyusi.