Elections in Mozambique

Elections in Mozambique gives information on election and election results in Mozambique.

Mozambique elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a five year term by the people. The Assembly of the Republic ("Assembleia da República") has 250 members, elected for a five year term by proportional representation. Mozambique has a two-party system, which means that there are two dominant political parties, with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party.

1994

In the first democratic elections held in Mozambique, in 1994, FRELIMO candidate and president of Mozambique since 1986 Joaquim Chissano was elected and the opposition party and former guerillia group RENAMO acknowledged the result.

1999

In the elections in late 1999 President Joaquim Chissano from FRELIMO was re-elected with 52.3% of the vote, and FRELIMO secured 133 of 250 parliamentary seats. The main opposition parties candidate, RENAMO's Afonso Dhlakama, got 47.7% and the party won the remaining 117 parliamentary seats.

2004 - Presidential and Parliamentary election

In the December 1-2 2004 election Armando Guebuza, the new FRELIMO candidate, won expectedly with 63.7% of the votes, more than twice as many as RENAMO candidate Afonso Dhlakama (31.7%).
In the parliamentary election FRELIMO won 62% (1.8 million) of the votes, RENAMO 29.7% (905,000 votes) and 18 minor parties shared the remaining eight per cent. FRELIMO will hold 160 of the parliamentary seats, RENAMO 90.
The elections have been criticized for not having been conducted in a fair and transparent manner by the National Electoral Commission (CNE), several cases of electoral fraud have occurred and remained unsanctioned. This has been criticized among others by the "European Union Election Observation Mission to Mozambique" and the "Carter Center". However, the elections shortcomings have probably not (also according to EU observers) affected the final result in the presidential election. The distribution of parliamentary seats among the parties will have been somewhat altered though (RENAMO probably losing a number of seats to FRELIMO).
On February 2 2005 Guebuza was sworn in as president of the republic, but without Dhlakama and RENAMO's recognition and presence at the inauguration. RENAMO have, however, agreed to participate in the Parliament and the Council of State.
* [http://www.kas.de/proj/home/pub/34/1/year-2004/dokument_id-5302/index.html Is Frelimo abusing its majority in order to win this year’s election in Mozambique?]
* [http://www.cartercenter.org/doc1999.htm Postelection Statement on Mozambique 2004 Elections by the Carter Center]
* [http://www.kas.de/upload/auslandshomepages/election-moza_final-report.pdf Final Report of the European Union Election Observation Mission]

ee also

* Electoral calendar
* Electoral system

External links

* [http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/m/mozambique/ Adam Carr's Election Archive]
* [http://africanelections.tripod.com/mz.html African Elections Database]