It is now official that the ruling party candidate, Daniel Chapo has won the October 9 presidential election with 65% of the vote. His victory was announced by the nation’s constitutional council on Monday following two months of post election protests in the country.
Mozambique’s Constitutional Council has confirmed that Daniel Chapo of the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) party had won the October 9 presidential election. The nation’s top court announced the results on Monday, Dec. 23.
However, the seven-judge bench of the nation’s Constitutional Council in its final verdict trimmed Chapo’s earlier victory of 71% of the vote to 65%.
Mozambique plunged into violent protests since late October, when the electoral authority declared Chapo the winner of the Oct. 9 election, with 71% of the cast votes, defeating opposition candidate Venancio Mondlane of the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), who received 20%.
Mondlane had rejected the results, claiming widespread vote rigging and urging his supporters to demonstrate. This resulted in the constitutional council being tasked with acting in the case.
Over 110 people have been killed since protests erupted on Oct. 21, according to Plataforma Eleitoral Decide, a group that monitors elections in the Southern African country.
With tensions high in the South African country, this verdict maintains Frelimo at the helm of the country like has been the case since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
