MAPUTO
\nMozambique\u2019s capital Maputo was deserted early Thursday ahead of the announcement of results of the October 9 elections that an opposition candidate has rejected while calling for fresh protests against the ruling party which is expected to be declared winner.
\nIn an announcement due at 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT), the Mozambican National Electoral Commission (CNE) is widely expected to declare that Frelimo will remain in power, which it has held since independence from Portugal in 1975.
\nEmerging opposition presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane, backed by the Podemos party, has already claimed he won the vote, alleging electoral fraud and manipulation in favor of Frelimo and its candidate, Daniel Chapo.
\nSince voting day Mondlane has issued calls on social media for protests. In a new message on Facebook late Wednesday, he encouraged a \u201cgreat national demonstration\u201d against Frelimo\u2019s half-a-century in power.
\n\u201cThe time has come for the people to take power and say that we now want to change the history of this country,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIn all the neighborhoods, all the districts, we are going to be on the streets, there won\u2019t be enough bullets for everyone, there won\u2019t be tear gas for everyone, there won\u2019t be enough armored vehicles.\u201d
\nTensions in a country that has already seen bouts of post-election violence were exacerbated by the assassination on Saturday of a lawyer and political ally of Mondlane who were preparing a legal case to contest the vote on behalf of the opposition leader.
\nThousands of people gathered outside Maputo Wednesday to bury the lawyer, Elvino Dias, who was killed in an ambush on a car alongside opposition activist, Paulo Guambe.
\nMondlane, 50, has accused the security forces of the attack and claimed he could be next. Police said they have launched an investigation into the killings, which Frelimo \u201cvehemently\u201d condemned as a \u201cmacabre act.\u201d
\nOutgoing president Filipe Nyusi, 65, warned Wednesday that calls for violent protests could be considered criminal acts.
\n\u201cInciting the population to revolt, misinforming the world and creating chaos for political purposes can be considered criminal acts,\u201d said Nyusi, who has served a maximum two-term limit.
\nPolice also called for calm on Wednesday, saying people should not allow themselves to be manipulated by \u201cincendiary speeches and misinformation.\u201d
\nMondlane, a former radio presenter who has been able to attract younger voters in the destitute coastal country, was among a group of protesters tear gassed by police in a demonstration in the capital on Monday.
\nHe has also accused security forces of wounding three people when they opened fire to disperse hundreds of his supporters in a protest in the northern city of Nampula on October 17.
\nLast year, several people were killed in clashes after Frelimo won municipal elections.
\nElection observers from the EU have raised concerns about the legitimacy of this month\u2019s polls, noting \u201cirregularities during counting and unjustified alteration of election results at polling station and district level.\u201d
\nInitial indications of a low turnout in the country of some 33 million people could further erode the vote\u2019s credibility.
\nExpected to be declared winner of the presidential polls, Daniel Chapo, 47, would be Mozambique\u2019s first president born after independence from Portugal.
\nA former provincial governor with no experience in national government, he would also be the first leader not to have fought in the 1975-1992 civil war between Frelimo and Renamo, which claimed around a million lives.
\nRenamo\u2019s leader Ossufo Momade, 63, also stood for election on October 9, as did Lutero Simango, 64, of the Mozambique Democratic Movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MAPUTO Mozambique\u2019s capital Maputo was deserted early Thursday ahead of the announcement of results of the October 9 elections that an opposition candidate has rejected while calling for fresh protests against the ruling party which is expected to be declared winner. In an announcement due at 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT), the Mozambican National Electoral Commission …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":72049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72054,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72034\/revisions\/72054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}