MAPUTO, Mozambique
Former Mozambican presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane announced on Friday that he is going to create his own political party, after announcing the end of his relationship with Podemos, with which he had a “political agreement” for last October’s elections.
“This year we’re going to have our own party,” said Mondlane, without giving further details, speaking from the cab of a vehicle in front of thousands of people in the centre of Chibuto, in Gaza province, southern Mozambique.
At issue are disagreements between Mondlane and the leadership of the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos) party, a political force that has seen its popularity rise since announcing, on 21 August 2024, support for the politician’s candidacy in the 9 October presidential elections.
“This year we’re going to present our own party. No more giving rides to `penduras‘,’ declared the Mozambican politician, applauded by thousands of supporters who accompanied him through the streets of one of the main districts of a province considered the “bastion” of the ruling party, the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo).
The “political agreement” between Mondlane and Podemos came shortly after the politician had his Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD) rejected by the Constitutional Council for ‘irregularities’.
In the 9 October elections, Podemos, which has never had a member of parliament since its creation (2019), became the largest opposition party in Mozambique, taking away a status that had been held by the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) since the first multiparty elections in 1994.
In the new parliament, of the 250 seats, Podemos has 43, Renamo 28 and MDM eight, with Frelimo, in power since independence, having the parliamentary majority, with 171 deputies.
On Tuesday, Mondlane’s advisor, who has worked for the three main political parties in Mozambique, announced the end of the relationship with Podemos, accusing that political grouping of “selling out the people’s struggle”.
“Since, for us, not everything in life is money and positions, in respect for the pain of thousands of Mozambicans who have paid with their blood, mutilated limbs, kidnappings, summary and extrajudicial executions or even deprivation of liberty, we renounce [all] rights and prerogatives in favour of the Podemos party,” reads a document from the self-styled “Office of the president elected by the people”, signed by Dinis Tivane, Mondlane’s advisor.
In the document, Podemos is accused of tampering with the political agreement that existed between the two parties and is criticised for being included at the dialogue table to end the post-election crisis that is being promoted by the country’s president, Daniel Chapo, without presenting the public with “a concrete agenda or proposing terms of reference”.
Government spokesman and minister for state administration and the civil service, Inocêncio Impissa, called today during a press conference in Maputo for Mondlane to be part of the process of pacifying the country, but stressed that the politician “cannot be expected to be summoned [to dialogue] as if he were a representative of a party”, adding: “what we know is that he is not from any party”.
Mozambique has been experiencing strong social unrest since October, with demonstrations and stoppages called first by Venâncio Mondlane, who rejects the election results that gave victory to Daniel Chapo, the Frelimo-backed candidate.
Today, small-scale protests are taking place in different parts of the country and, as well as contesting the results, people are complaining about the rising cost of living and other social problems.
Since October, at least 327 people have died, including around two dozen minors, and around 750 have been shot during the protests, according to the electoral platform Decide, a non-governmental organisation that monitors electoral processes.
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