Some 17 million Mozambicans headed to the polls on Wednesday, October 9, to vote in elections that could, for the first time, usher in a president born after the country’s independence from Portuguese colonists in 1975. Besides voting for a new president, voters will also choose 250 members of parliament, Provincial governors, and officials in some of the 11 provinces. Parliamentary and provincial elections in the 11 provinces will be held simultaneously in the country of about 32 million people. ALSO READ: Mozambique registers over 90% of target voters for general elections According to reports, vote counting will start immediately after polls close on Wednesday, with partial results set to be announced as they are collated. Mozambique's National Elections Commission (CNE) will announce official tallies after 15 days. President Filipe Nyusi, 65, of the governing Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) party, will step down after eight years in office. He could be the last of Frelimo’s pro-independence fighters-turned-presidents who were at the front lines of the country’s liberation war. Who is running? The current president, Nyusi, is not running in the elections because he already reached the constitutional limit of two terms in office. There are four approved candidates for the presidency: Daniel Chapo, 47 In May, Frelimo announced Daniel Franciso Chapo, a member of its Central Committee, as the party's candidate in this month’s presidential election. Chapo, a newcomer politician who joined politics in 2011 is a favourite to win the elections because he has the advantage of Frelimo’s incumbency power, analysts say. ALSO READ: Daniel Chapo, 47, announced as ruling party's candidate in October presidential election The 47-year-old law graduate, Frelimo's first presidential candidate born after the country's independence in 1975, was appointed governor of the province of Inhambane in March 2016. Before that, he taught constitutional law and political science. Born in Sofala Province, in 1977, Chapo has a master's degree in development management from the Catholic University of Mozambique. Frelimo has been in power since Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975. During the six weeks of campaigning that officially closed on Sunday, Chapo, among other things, promised that peace would be restored to the Cabo Delgado province where host nation and Rwandan security forces are conducting joint operations to remove terrorists. ALSO READ: Rwanda, Mozambique troops mull plan to deny terrorists 'freedom of action' Ossufo Momade, 63 In May, the Congress of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) re-elected Ossufo Momade as president of the largest opposition party, after obtaining the majority of votes. His party boasts 60 out of the 250 parliament seats, and just a few of the 65 municipalities. Momade contested for the presidency in the 2019 elections, but secured only 21 percent of votes, compared with President Filipe Nyusi’s 73 percent. Unlike, Chapo, Momade who has served Renamo president since January 17, 2019, is very much part of the old guard. He assumed the presidency of the party after the death of its leader Afonso Dhlakama in May 2018 on an interim basis until he was elected president of the party at an internal congress held at the beginning of the following year. Momade fought in the Mozambican civil war (1977-1992), during which Frelimo squared off against former rebel groups, including Renamo, which later transitioned into a political party. He is still hailed for being the Renamo leader who signed peace accords that brought the post-civil war Renamo rebellion (2013-2018) to an end in 2019. Venâncio Mondlane, 50 Nicknamed VM7, it is reported that Mondlane has secured a strong base among young Mozambicans – people aged 25 years and under make up two-thirds of the population. Mondlane was a former Renamo deputy in the Mozambican House of Assembly. Last year, Mondlane, who was a Renamo candidate in the municipal elections in Maputo, abandoned the party he had been a member of since 2018 – and the position of MP to which he had been elected – after failing to run for the leadership of the largest opposition party at the congress held in May. He left Renamo when Momade did not step down and is now running as an independent, backed by the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD), a coalition of nine political groups. Lutero Simango, 64 In May, Mozambique’s second largest opposition party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), elected its leader, Lutero Simango, as its candidate for the presidential election scheduled for October 9. He is President of the MDM and leader of its parliamentary group. Head of Mozambique’s third-biggest party in parliament, MDM, Simango’s election promises have focused on building factories to create more jobs for young people by ensuring natural resources like timber are processed in-country, not exported. Simango is the brother of Daviz Simango, the founder of the MDM, who died in February 2021.
