2019 Mozambican general election

15 October 2019 (2019-10-15)
Presidential election
Turnout	51.84% (2.81pp)
Nominee Filipe Nyusi Ossufo Momade Party FRELIMO RENAMO Popular vote 4,639,172 1,356,786 Percentage 73.46% 21.48%
Presidential election results by province
Parliamentary election
Party Leader % Seats +/– FRELIMO Filipe Nyusi 71.28 184 +40 RENAMO Ossufo Momade 22.28 60 −29 MDM Daviz Simango 4.19 6 −11 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. President before President after Filipe Nyusi FRELIMO Filipe Nyusi FRELIMO

Politics of Mozambique
Constitution Human rights
Executive President Filipe Nyusi Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário
Legislature Assembly of the Republic
Judiciary Constitutional Council
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General elections were held in Mozambique on 15 October 2019.^[1][2][3] During the leadup to the elections, assassinations and significant intimidation of prominent leaders of opposition parties and election observers were alleged.^[4][5] In addition, state resources, media, and aid for cyclone victims were also alleged to be used in favour of the ruling party (FRELIMO) and its candidates.^[6][7] Local elections observers, civil society organizations, the Commonwealth Observer Group, the European Union Election Observation Mission, and several national and international entities classified the elections as rigged.^{[8][9][6][7][10][11][12]} Nevertheless, the incumbent president Filipe Nyusi of FRELIMO was declared re-elected with 73% of the vote. The main opposition party RENAMO as well as the other oppositions parties involved in the elections contested the results, claiming there were numerous irregularities, and accusing FRELIMO of "massive electoral fraud", including hundreds of thousands of "ghost voters".^[13] As evidence for the international community, Ossufo Momade, the president of the main opposition party RENAMO, transported to Europe a box filled with vote ballots that had been marked in favor of the incumbent president Filipe Nyusi of FRELIMO before the commencement of voting.^[14][15][16] Despite these occurrences, the international community largely ignored any concerns of fraud, and gradually countries started recognizing the incumbent president Filipe Nyusi of FRELIMO as the winner of the elections.^[17]

Electoral system

The President of Mozambique was elected using the two-round system.^[18] The 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic were elected by proportional representation in eleven multi-member constituencies based on the country's provinces and on a first-past-the-post basis from two single-member constituencies representing Mozambican citizens in Africa and Europe. Seats in the multi-member constituencies were allocated using the D'Hondt method.^[19]

Candidates

On 16 January 2019, the main opposition party RENAMO held a congress at which Ossufo Momade was elected as the party's new leader and presidential candidate.^[20] Momade had been the party's interim president following the death of Afonso Dhlakama in May 2018 and was seen as a "unifying leader" that could bring the political and military sector of RENAMO closer.^[21]

The ruling FRELIMO held its congress on 6 May, at which it confirmed its decision to support the re-election of President Filipe Nyussi for a second and final term.

On 9 May and following a three-day congress, the Democratic Movement of Mozambique confirmed that its presidential candidate would be Daviz Simango, mayor of Beira since 2003. Simango was a presidential candidate in the two previous general elections.^[22]

On 31 July the Constitutional Council approved four candidates; Nyussi, Momade, Simango and Mário Albino. Two candidates were disqualified; Hélder Mendoça and Alice Mabota. Mabota would have been the first woman to run for president, but failed to collect enough signatures.^[23]

FRELIMO nominated Mércia Viriato Licá as one of their candidates. She was elected and became the youngest MP in the country's history.^[24]

Results

Assembly

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	FRELIMO	4,323,298	71.28	184	+40
	RENAMO	1,351,659	22.28	60	–29
	Democratic Movement of Mozambique	254,290	4.19	6	–11
	Action Party of the United Movement for Integral Salvation	27,277	0.45	0	New
	New Democracy	25,046	0.41	0	New
	Union for Change	8,347	0.14	0	0
	Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique	6,768	0.11	0	New
	National Reconciliation Party	6,469	0.11	0	0
	Patriotic Movement for Democracy	5,883	0.10	0	0
	Union for Reconciliation Party	5,399	0.09	0	0
	Greens Party of Mozambique	5,361	0.09	0	0
	Labour Party	5,173	0.09	0	0
	National Party of the Mozambican People/CRD	4,143	0.07	0	New
	Youth Movement for the Restoration of Democracy	4,054	0.07	0	0
	National Movement for the Recovery of Mozambican Unity	3,820	0.06	0	0
	Electoral Union	3,769	0.06	0	0
	Mozambique People's Progress Party	3,431	0.06	0	0
	Social Renewal Party	3,365	0.06	0	0
	Ecological Party of Mozambique	3,313	0.05	0	New
	Party of Freedom and Development	2,868	0.05	0	0
	Democratic Unity	2,720	0.04	0	New
	Ecological Party–Land Movement	2,579	0.04	0	0
	Democratic Justice Party of Mozambique	2,036	0.03	0	New
	Social Broadening Party of Mozambique	2,006	0.03	0	0
	National Workers and Peasants Party	1,783	0.03	0	0
	Democratic Union of Mozambique	664	0.01	0	New
Total		6,065,521	100.00	250	0
Valid votes		6,065,521	89.64
Invalid/blank votes		700,895	10.36
Total votes		6,766,416	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		13,162,321	51.41
Source: STAE

References