Mozambique to announce voting results amid national protest call

The electoral commission will declare the results from 2:30 pm local time in Maputo, the capital, it said in a statement.

Mozambique is due to announce the final results of its October 9 elections on Thursday amid calls from an opposition leader for a national strike and demonstrations over rigging claims.

The electoral commission will declare the results from 2:30 pm local time in Maputo, the capital, it said in a statement. Venâncio Mondlane, a charismatic independent candidate, claims to have won the presidency despite provisional tallies showing the ruling party’s Daniel Chapo was well ahead. He’s called on supporters to paralyze the entire nation on Thursday and Friday to protest what he called a fraudulent election.

Tensions have been running high in Mozambique, which has some of Africa’s biggest natural gas reserves, since the election. The weekend murder of Mondlane’s lawyer has inflamed the situation. On Monday, police teargassed protesters and journalists.

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Many people appeared to have heeded Mondlane’s shutdown call in Maputo early Thursday, with the normally busy streets unusually quiet. The city’s main fresh produce market appeared to be operating relatively normally, local broadcaster TV Sucesso reported.

Observers from local groups to the European Union have flagged irregularities, including indications of ballot-box stuffing and the “unjustified alteration” of results.

A national group of Catholic bishops said the process included “grand fraud,” and the lowest voter turnout in Mozambique’s history indicated people had lost faith in the electoral process. It called on the authorities to respect the right to peaceful demonstration, and warned young people against being influenced to destabilize the country and participate in acts of vandalism.

The southeast African nation, where the median age is about 17, is one of the world’s least-developed. Almost three-quarters of its 35 million people live on less than $2.15 per day, according to the World Bank. One in three young people aren’t working or studying, government data shows.

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