The Legal Council of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) confirmed this Friday the election in Congress of Ossufo Momade as president of the largest opposition party, which he has led since 2019, receiving 57% of the vote.
Data released early in the morning and confirmed by the jurisdictional council confirmed preliminary figures known around 4:00 a.m. local time (3:00 a.m. Lisbon time), with Ossufo Momade winning the election with 382 votes among nine candidates.
At the seventh congress, which has been held since Wednesday in Alto Molocue, Zambezia province, 710 votes were registered and 674 votes were cast in the ballot box, including 26 abstentions, four invalids and six blanks.
Since January 17, 2019, Renamo has been headed by 63-year-old Ossufo Momade, elected after the death of the party’s historical leader Afonso Dhlakama (1953-2018).
At this congress, nine candidates for the post of party president for a new five-year term were accepted.
According to Renamo’s jurisdictional council, Elias Dhlakama, brother of the party’s historical leader (Afonso Dhlakama), received 147 votes, and Ivone Soares, a deputy and former head of the parliamentary college, 78 votes.
On Thursday evening, three candidates, political commission member Herminio Morais, Tete provincial council president Juliano Picardo and education chief Anselmo Vitor, ultimately withdrew from the race, declaring their support for Ossufo. Momade.
The Congress was marked by the exclusion of the candidacy of Venancio Mondlane, deputy and candidate of the party, in the municipal elections for the municipality of Maputo in October 2023, as not meeting the profile requirements determined by the party bodies.
Mondlane went to court to have his nomination included, but despite the court’s precautions, Congress did not change the list of candidates on the ballot or allow him to attend the main meeting.
Mozambique will hold general elections on October 9 that include, in addition to legislative and provincial elections, presidential elections in which current President Filipe Nyusi can no longer participate because he has reached the constitutional limit of two terms.
After the presidential election, Renamo will have to clarify which candidate it will support for the presidency of the republic in the October elections, which, as a rule, is the party leader.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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