Dissenting Mozambique’s main opposition party announces support for Mondlane

The extra-parliamentary party “Democratic Revolution” (RD), founded by dissidents of Renamo, Mozambique’s main opposition party, announced on Friday its support for the presidential candidacy of Venâncio Mondlane.

“Supporting the candidacy of Venâncio Mondlane is a response to the political vision of Afonso Dhlakama and André Matsangaisa. [ambos falecidos líderes fundadores da Renamo]”, said the President of the Republic of Dagestan, Vitano Cingano, at a press conference in Maputo.

This makes RD the second extra-parliamentary party to express support for Mondlane, after the ruling Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), a party made up of dissidents from the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo), which already secured his victory on Thursday.

“A change of power in the Republic of Mozambique is an urgent need for political and economic independence. It is necessary to save a bankrupt and deeply indebted state,” Vitano Singano stressed, expressing his party’s intention to join the Coalition Democratic Alliance (CAD), which tried to support Mondlane in the October 9 elections but was expelled due to alleged irregularities.

RD was founded in 2022 by Renamo dissidents led by Vitano Singano, a former bodyguard of Dhlakama, the historic leader of the main opposition party who died of illness in 2018.

“Venancio Mondlane will not be alone in the campaigns. More than five thousand former Renamo guerrillas are involved in the organization for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. [no âmbito dos acordos de paz com o Governo] “They are unhappy with the establishment of an unfair pension and will side with Mondlane,” said Vitano Singano, adding that his group is not satisfied with “the quality of the current leadership of Renamo.”

In early August, the Constitutional Council (CC) finally excluded the CAD, which had supported Mondlane’s candidacy for president and which had also included him as a candidate for the Legislative Assembly, from the October 9 elections.

In a ruling issued in response to an appeal filed by the CAD itself following the exclusion of the candidacy previously taken by the National Electoral Commission (CNE), the CC, the last electoral justice body, declared invalid the CNE’s decision of 9 May, which accepted the registration of the coalition due to irregularities in the registration process, considering it “unregistered”.

Venâncio Mondlane, 50, was a candidate for the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) in the 2023 municipal elections in Maputo municipality. He renounced the party of which he had been a member since 2018 – and the parliamentary position to which he was elected – after he was not allowed to run for the leadership of the largest opposition party at a congress held in May.

Mozambique will hold general elections on October 9, including presidential, legislative, provincial assemblies and provincial governorships.

In addition to Mondlane, running in these elections in Ponta Vermelha (the official residence of the head of state in Mozambique) are Daniel Chapo, supported by the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power), Ossufo Momade, supported by Renamo, and Lutero Simango, supported by the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), the third parliamentary force.