The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) has estimated Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi to likely head for a landslide victory in elections winning more than 70% of the vote share, reported Euro News.
Mozambicans voted in a highly contested election last Tuesday to choose a president, members of parliament and provincial leaders.
Based on data collected from 2,500 polling stations, the observer group has estimated that Nyusi will win more than 70% of the vote against 21% for opposition candidate Ossufo Momade. But it found that some polling stations recorded many more votes than registered voters in last week’s ballot, hinting at some irregularities in the election.
In a new conference, EISA programme officer Domingos Rosario pointed out that at many polling stations in seven provinces, the number of votes greatly exceeded the number of voters. He said some observers had been prevented from carrying out their work.
While official vote counting results are yet to be announced, Momade’s former guerrilla movement turned main opposition party, Renamo, has already rejected the preliminary results claiming that election has been tarnished by “mega fraud” right from voter registration through to counting.
After a meeting of its top officials in Maputo on Monday, the opposition party said it had decided to challenge the results over allegations of registration irregularities and the intimidation of candidates and election observers.
The party even called out the people to join it in rejecting preliminary results of October 15 general elections that showed incumbent President Nyusi taking a strong lead.
Political analysts believe the election results might threaten an historic peace accord signed just months ago between Momade and Nyusi, and in turn affect the stability of nation. Renamo and the ruling Frelimo party fought on opposite sides of a 16-year civil war that ended in a truce in 1992.
