SADC left with egg on face after Mozambique polls
Daniel Chapo, presidential candidate of the ruling Frelimo party, casts his vote during the general elections at Inhambane, in the southern Mozambique, October 9, 2024.
The ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) party retained the presidency of the country on Thursday after the national electoral commission (CNE) declared Daniel Chapo the new President-elect.
Chapo will replace retiring Filipe Nyusi, and won with over 70 percent of the vote ahead of the closest challenger Venancio Mondlane, an independent contender who was backed by opposition Podemos party.
The result was expected for the ruling party that has been in power for the last four decades. But controversy ensued as some critics blamed the silence by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc, to which Mozambique belongs, for the chaos witnessed in the elections season.
Mr Mondlane, who was backed by the opposition Podemos party, claimed he won the vote that international observers said was marred by fraud.
A week after the polls, his legal adviser was gunned down alongside a senior party representative of Podemos. The identity of the gunmen remains unidentified.
Yet tension has been growing since the killing of two prominent opposition figures on October 19, which triggered protests that were quelled by the police this week.
Gunmen killed Elvino Dias, a lawyer and advisor to Mr Mondlane and the Podemos party representative Paulo Guambe while they were driving in the capital Maputo.
The killings were condemned by the United Nations and African Union (AU) among other bodies, but SADC has remained mum. SADC chairperson and Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa controversially endorsed the elections two days before the announcement of official results on Thursday.
President Mnangagwa congratulated Frelimo for a “resounding victory” while addressing an annual conference for his ruling Zanu PF in Harare on Tuesday.
Observers from the European Union (EU) on Wednesday said the results of the elections were “altered.”
“The European Union Election Observation Mission has noted irregularities during counting and unjustified alteration of election results at polling station and district level,” the EU observers said.
Borges Nhamirre from the Institute of Security Studies in South Africa said SADC dropped the ball in Mozambique and had lost an opportunity to stop the democratic backsliding in the troubled country.
“SADC should take action as electoral fraud, post-election violence and the murder of opposition figures undermine democracy,” Mr Nhamirre said.
He said SADC only covered just one percent of Mozambique’s 25 000 polling stations where 17 million people were registered to vote.
“The election happened on an uneven political playing field that favoured Frelimo, with the country’s mainstream media giving ruling party candidates more airtime,” Mr Nhamirre added.
“SADC is unlikely to have an informed opinion on the election, considering its superficial observation mission.
“The regional bloc’s 53 observers from 10 member states observed only voting and results counting, covering just 288 of 25 000 polling stations (just over one percent.”
SADC’s observer mission’s preliminary report appeared to give Mozambique’s electoral processes the thumbs up, which triggered withering criticism from the opposition and the media.
There were also questions about the credibility of the mission’s head and former Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume. Mr Karume’s tenure in Zanzibar was marred by allegations of election fraud and violence.
Mr Nhamirre said the post-election chaos in Mozambique could have been avoided if SADC had intervened on time.
“The manipulation of elections by electoral management bodies in favour of the ruling party is crippling democracy, eroding the credibility of institutions and generating post-election violence,” he said.
“Although the African Union has condemned the violence, both that body and SADC should have acted earlier by properly observing Mozambique’s polls and urging the government to abide by the law and constitution – and SADC’s election principles and guidelines on free and fair elections.”
SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi said the bloc “does not have a carrot-and-stick approach” when dealing with member states that fail to stick to its guidelines and principles for free and fair elections.
“Ordinarily, SADC urges its member states to abide by its principles or the guidelines,” Mr Magosi said.
“And ordinarily expects member states to implement those recommendations.
“Where matters become very serious, through the SADC secretariat, the chairperson of the organ is entitled by the guidelines to actually bring those issues before summit for summit to consider.”
Frelimo is also widely expected to win the legislative elections. The 47 year-old Chapo will succeed President Filipe Nyusi when he retired early in the New Year.
Frelimo has been in power in Mozambique since independence from Portugal in 1975.
SADC also faced criticism after it endorsed Zimbabwe’s 2023 elections despite concerns raised by its observer missions that the polls did not meet the regional body’s standards.
After Mozambique, there will be elections in Botswana where there are also growing concerns about the credibility of the polls amid allegations by the opposition that President Mokgweetsi Masisi is trying to manipulate the outcome.
