Thursday, October 16, 2014

Mozambique Ruling Party Likely to Win Presidential Vote
FRELIMO Party candidate Felipi Nyusi.
Thu Oct 16, 2014 3:46PM GMT
presstv.ir

Early and unofficial results from recent presidential and legislative elections in Mozambique show the southeast African country’s ruling Frelimo Party is likely to achieve a major victory.

According to early results and unofficial projections released on Thursday, Frelimo presidential candidate, Filipe Nyussi, is in the lead with about 60 percent of the votes.

The projections also show Nyusi’s main opponent, Afonso Dhlakama of the Renamo Party, is trailing in the second position with 31 percent of the votes, while the third and youngest runner, David Simango, has so far secured eight percent.

“Preliminary numbers and projections indicate the Frelimo will win a landslide victory,” said a report by the Center for Public Integrity and the Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa.

Mozambicans went to the polls on Wednesday to elect their fourth president since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975.

Voters also cast their ballots to elect the 250 deputies of their national parliament and 980 members of provincial assemblies.

The Thursday projections suggest that Frelimo has so far won 142 of the parliamentary seats, while Renamo has secured 51.

Analysts consider the presidential and legislative elections as a tough electoral test for the Frelimo Party, which has run the African country since 1975.

On Wednesday, Mozambican opposition groups accused the ruling party of attempting to stuff ballot boxes.

Both the electoral commission in Mozambique and foreign observers confirmed sporadic clashes between police and opposition activities during the voting in several towns. However, they said the overall process was peaceful.

More than 10 million people were eligible to vote in Mozambique. Officials say the final election results are expected to be released within 15 days.

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