General elections were held in

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

on 15 October 2019. During the leadup to the elections, assassinations and significant intimidation of prominent leaders of opposition parties and election observers were alleged. In addition, State resources, media, and aid for cyclone victims were also alleged to be used in favour of the ruling party (

FRELIMO FRELIMO (; from the Portuguese , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It is the dominant party in Mozambique and has won a majority of the seats in the Assembly of the Republic in every election since the country's first ...

) and its candidates. Local elections observers, civil society organizations, the Commonwealth Observer Group, the European Union Election Observation Mission, and several national and international entities classified the elections as rigged. Nevertheless, the incumbent president

Filipe Nyusi Filipe Jacinto Nyusi (; born 12 February 1959) is a Mozambican politician serving as the fourth President of Mozambique since 2015. He is the current leader of FRELIMO, the party that has governed Mozambique since its independence from Portug ...

was declared re-elected with 73% of the vote. The main opposition party

RENAMO RENAMO (from the Portuguese , ) is a Mozambican political party and militant group. The party was founded with the active sponsorship of the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) in May 1977 from anti-communist dissidents oppose ...

as well as the other oppositions parties involved in the elections contested the results, claiming there were numerous irregularities, and accusing FRELIMO of "massive electoral fraud", including hundreds of thousands of "ghost voters". As evidence for the international community,

Ossufo Momade Ossufo Momade (born 30 January 1961) is a Mozambican politician. He has served as president of the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO), the main opposition party of Mozambique since January 17, 2019. He assumed the presidency of the party afte ...

, the president of the main opposition party

, transported to Europe a box filled with vote ballots that had been marked in favor of the incumbent president

before the commencement of vote. Despite these occurrences, the international community largely ignored any concerns of fraud, and gradually countries started recognizing the incumbent president

as the winner of the elections.

Electoral system

The President of Mozambique was elected using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

. The 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic were elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

in eleven multi-member constituencies based on the country's

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

and on a

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

basis from two single-member constituencies representing Mozambican citizens in Africa and Europe. Seats in the multi-member constituencies were allocated using the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...

Candidates

On 16 January 2019, the main opposition party

held a congress at which

was elected as the party's new leader and presidential candidate. Momade had been the party's interim president following the death of

Afonso Dhlakama Afonso Marceta Macacho Dhlakama (1 January 1953 – 3 May 2018) was a Mozambican politician and the leader of RENAMO, an anti-communist guerrilla movement that fought the FRELIMO government in the Mozambican Civil War before signing a peace agr ...

in May 2018 and was seen as a "unifying leader" that could bring the political and military sector of RENAMO closer. The ruling

held its congress on 6 May, at which it confirmed its decision to support the re-election of President

Filipe Nyussi Filipe Jacinto Nyusi (; born 12 February 1959) is a Mozambican politician serving as the fourth President of Mozambique since 2015. He is the current leader of FRELIMO, the party that has governed Mozambique since its independence from Portug ...

for a second and final term. On 9 May and following a three-day congress, the Democratic Movement of Mozambique confirmed that its presidential candidate would be

Daviz Simango Daviz Mbepo Simango (7 February 1964 – 22 February 2021) was a Mozambican politician who was Mayor of Beira from 2003 to the day of his death in February 2021. He was also the President of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM). He was s ...

, mayor of Beira since 2003. Simango was a presidential candidate in the two previous general elections.Terceiro maior partido moçambicano confirma Daviz Simango como candidato presidencial
Observador, 9 May 2019 On 31 July the Constitutional Council approved four candidates; Nyussi, Momade, Simango and Mário Albino. Two candidates were disqualified; Hélder Mendoça and Alice Mabota. Mabota would have been the first woman to run for president, but failed to collect enough signatures. FRELIMO nominated

Mércia Viriato Licá Mércia Viriato Licá (born 1996/1997) is a Mozambican lawyer and politician who has been serving as a Member of the Assembly of the Republic since 13 January 2020. When she took office, she became the youngest MP in the country's history. She is ...

as one of their candidates. She was elected and became the youngest MP in the country's history.

Results

President

Assembly

Provincial elections

References

{{Mozambican elections Presidential elections in Mozambique

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Elections in Mozambique