Independence-era leaders bow out

Mozambique is set for a watershed election on Wednesday that will see a change of the presidential guard, with the era of leaders who forged their careers in the trenches of the independence war against Portuguese rule coming to an end. For the first time, notes the BBC, the once all-powerful Frelimo party is fielding a presidential candidate who was born after independence – the charismatic 47-year-old Daniel Chapo, who it hopes will rally voters fed up with its 49-year rule. ‘In some places Frelimo campaign members have been booed and openly rejected,’ political commentator Charles Mangwiro said. Mozambique will hold presidential elections on Wednesday, along with parliamentary and gubernatorial elections. President Filipe Nyusi is stepping down at the end of his two terms and hopes to hand the reigns of power to Chapo. His government had to deal with the fallout of the ‘tuna bond’ corruption scandal, which triggered the country's worst economic crisis. In comparison, Chapo is a breath of fresh air – and draws big crowds at rallies across the country as he distances himself from the corruption that has plagued Frelimo for much of its rule since independence in 1975.

But human rights activist and journalist Mirna Chitsungo said: ‘... He faces the challenge of promising to fight this evil while belonging to a party that, on a large scale, has perpetuated corruption.’ Counting in Chapo's favour is the fact that he is a relative newcomer in the political arena, having joined government only in 2011 as a district administrator, rising by 2019 to become governor of the southern Inhambane province until taking over as general secretary of Frelimo in May. But his critics say that to ensure victory, Frelimo has a back-up plan: fraud. The BBC report says a leading NGO in Mozambique, Centro de Integridade Pública, said its research showed that around 5% of the names on the voters' roll are fake, or so-called ‘ghost voters’ – that is a figure of nearly 900 000.

Full BBC News report