Mozambican Electoral Campaign "Peaceful And Orderly" After 40 Days

Sala da Paz, which brings together civil society organizations for electoral observation in Mozambique, said today that the campaign for the general elections is taking place in a "peaceful and orderly" manner after 40 days, marking "significant progress".

"The Peace Room considers that, in general, the electoral campaign so far has been taking place in a peaceful and orderly manner. We note that there has been significant progress in relation to the 2019 electoral campaign, in terms of incidence, intensity of violence, illicit and electoral irregularities", said Felicidade Chirindza, from Sala da Paz.

The organization claims to have found some irregularities during the 40 days of campaigning for the October 9 elections, including the pasting of leaflets in places prohibited by law, destruction of propaganda material and the use of minors during the campaign, incidences that it considered constant, although the first days were relatively "more tense" in terms of violence.

"Our observers report situations of three children injured when a loudspeaker fell during the rally of the Frelimo candidate, Daniel Chapo, in the city of Pemba. Two road accidents were also reported in the context of an electoral campaign, the fatalities of which were two minors", highlighted Sala da Paz.

Despite considering that the campaign is taking place peacefully, civil society organizations asked for "precautionary measures" for the last days of the process and the subsequent phases, namely voting, counting votes and publishing the results.

Mozambique will hold its seventh presidential elections next Wednesday - in which the current head of state, Filipe Nyusi, who has reached the constitutional limit of two terms, is no longer running - simultaneously with the seventh legislative elections and the fourth for provincial assemblies and governors.

More than 17 million voters are registered to vote, including 333,839 registered abroad, according to data from the National Elections Commission.

Running for President are Daniel Chapo, supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), in power, Ossufo Momade, supported by the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the largest opposition party, Lutero Simango, supported by the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), third parliamentary force, and Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos).