Mozambique’s Nyusi re-elected in disputed presidential poll

Incumbent President Filipe Nyusi won a five-year term in Mozambique’s election this month, the electoral commission announced on Sunday, despite claims of widespread cheating.

Nyusi of the ruling Frelimo party scored 73 percent of the vote, ahead of Ossufo Momade of the rebel group turned opposition party Renamo with almost 22 percent, commission chairman Abdul Carimo said at a press briefing.

Nyusi had been widely predicted to win, based on unofficial results from the October 15 vote, and Frelimo had already organised victory celebrations in the capital on Sunday.

Renamo last week urged the Mozambique population to reject the “massive electoral fraud” it claims took place during the polls.

It called for fresh elections, accusing the government of breaching a peace deal by using violence and intimidation on voting day.

Frelimo, which has ruled Mozambique since independence from Portugal in 1975, has hailed the elections as free and fair.

Frelimo and Renamo, which fought a brutal civil war from 1975-1992 that left one nearly million people dead, signed a peace deal in August hoping to turn the page on decades of conflict.

The tense elections were a litmus test of the fragile peace, after a heated campaign marred by violence and allegations of electoral fraud.

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