Renamo said it had explained to the diplomatic corps why it was declaring victory.

Renamo, Mozambique’s largest opposition party, said this Thursday that it had “technically” demonstrated to the diplomatic corps accredited to the country why it declared victory in local elections on October 11 and why it disputes the official results.

“First, give the status of the package of challenges that Renamo is putting forward regarding the election results announced and approved by the Constitutional Council. [CC]”, which led Renamo to disagree with its own decision,” said Venancio Mondlane, candidate of the largest opposition party in the capital and one of the elements who met this Thursday in Maputo with some representatives of the diplomatic corps.

“The second point was to present, technically, what the grounds are that motivate Renamo, firstly, to declare victory where it claimed victory, and secondly, to present evidence to support this claim of victory,” – he explained further.

It was also “important” for the candidate and deputy of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) to listen to the diplomats and know “how they perceive” the local electoral process and “what recommendations they make, both to Renamo and also to the country”, in order to “become a learning and consolidation moment » own knowledge and » view of the 2024 process with general elections in October.

He noted that ambassadors and representatives of international organizations in Mozambique once again emphasized the level of implementation of recommendations on electoral processes “for more than 20 years” that “have not been implemented.”

“Some work needs to be done. Renamo is represented in parliament, work needs to be done at the level of implementing these recommendations (…) Secondly, Renamo itself is beginning to present concrete proposals for revising the law,” he concluded Venancio. Mondlane, who claims victory in the capital in local elections, based on the original protocols and notifications, with 55% of the votes, but which the Central Committee attributed to the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo).

The CC, the body of last resort for electoral justice with the competence to certify election results in Mozambique, declared Frelimo on November 24 the winner of local elections in 56 municipalities, up from the previous 64, with Renamo winning four, and ordered elections to be repeated in four others.

The streets of some Mozambican cities, including Maputo, have been taken over by successive opposition demonstrations against what they consider “mega-rigging” in the local election process and the results announced by the National Electoral Commission (CNE). , which was also heavily criticized by civil society and non-governmental organizations.

Mozambique’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Veronica Macamo, on December 7 rejected the perception of pressure from the international community regarding the country’s electoral process and stressed that the issue should be handled by Mozambican institutions.

“I don’t think this is such a serious problem for the international community. We have not yet felt such pressure from the international community in our country,” he assessed in statements to the Lusa agency at the UN headquarters, emphasizing that the international community knows , that the issue should be decided by “Mozambican institutions and Mozambicans.”

Last month, the minister, who was also Frelimo’s national representative for the Oct. 11 vote, met with several diplomatic missions in Maputo and told them she believed the municipal process would “finish well,” asking the international community to trust the country’s government. dispute resolution institutions.

On October 16, the United States acknowledged the “credibility” of reports of “irregularities” in local elections in Mozambique, asking the country’s authorities to look into all complaints received, and the European Union this week pointed out “irregularities” in the process. , demanding “legislative improvements.”