Early results from Mozambique’s sixth general election trickling in from polling stations, suggest that incumbent President Filipe Nyusi in Maputo and the southern province of Gaza, APA can report Wednesday.
However, the results available currently are so few that it would be unwise to draw any conclusions from them and the private television station in Mozambique, Soico Televisao Stv reported, from three Maputo polling stations and relaesed following results in the presidential ballot:
Filipe Nyusi (Frelimo) 1,152, Ossufo Momade (Renamo) 297, Davis Simango (MDM) 118.
The result from just one polling station in Gaza, from the provincial capital, Xai-Xai, was available.
It was: Filipe Nyusi (Frelimo) 301, Ossufo Momade (Renamo) 72, Davis Simango (MDM) 18.
Analysts say there is nothing surprising in this handful of early results since Gaza has always been a traditional Frelimo political heartland although the ruling Frelimo’s position has weakened in Maputo in recent years, it has never seemed likely to lose control of the capital.
Results arrive more quickly from Maputo City than from any other constituency because voters in the capital only faced two ballot papers – for the presidential and parliamentary elections.
In all other constituencies there was a third ballot paper, for the provincial assembly, an institution that does not exist in the capital.
So far, no results are available from the most populous provinces of Nampula and Zambezia, the regions regarded as the elections battle ground.
Meanwhile, the Mozambican police fired tear gas late on Tuesday to disperse a crowd of voters protesting that their names are not on the voter roll at the polling station where they registered as voters in a district in the central province of Zambezia.
Cases of ballot stuffing were also reported in many parts of the countru and police have confirmed detention of a member of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party, named as Afonso Henriques, for alleged electoral fraud, after he was supposedly caught in the possession of 12 extra ballot papers all marked in advance in favour of his party Frelimo, while he was trying to slip them into the ballot box in a polling station in the Angoche municipality of the northern province of Nampula.
Police added that a polling station member, Selma Francisco was arrested in Mopeia district, in Zambezia province, after she was found with ballot markers also marked in advance for Frelimo.
CM/as/APA