Luísa Nhantumbo/LUSA
Parliament of Mozambique took office
Renamo and MDM continue not to accept the results of the October elections. We can settle, Prime Minister leaves alert.
A Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique sworn in This Monday the deputies elected to the X legislature, after those of October 9th.
For the first time, there are four partiess in Parliament: Frelimo, Podemos, Renamo and MDM.
But two of the parties, Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) and Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), boicotaram the ceremony, contesting the electoral process, the day on which new protests are called as part of the challenge to the election results.
“The Renamo party understands that this ceremony is devoid of any solemn value and therefore constitutes a outrage and disrespect for the will of Mozambicans, which is why he will not be part of this inauguration”, said the spokesperson for the hitherto largest opposition party, Marcial Macome, on Sunday on the sidelines of the meeting of the Renamo national political commission.
For the MDM, President Lutero Simango explained to Lusa: “I have always argued that it is necessary to make a forensic audit, or recount [dos votos]. Or as a last resort, cancel the elections.”
In total, of the 250 deputies that make up the new parliament, 210 parliamentarians were present at the ceremony: 171 from Frelimo, which maintains the absolute majority, and 39 from the Podemos Party.
Podemos was until now an extra-parliamentary party but supported Venâncio Mondlane’s presidential candidacy, becoming the largest in the opposition, with 43 deputies. Four did not go to the ceremony,
We can formed
The president of the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (We can) said that if “conformed” with the results proclaimed by the Constitutional Council, indicating that the party is “sovereign” regarding the decision to inaugurate its deputies.
“The parties are sovereign, some may not understand us when we say that we are going to take office, but we, due to our sovereignty, understand that we are going to take office because what we are going to do today is very important”, said the president of Podemos, Albino Forquilha , speaking to the media at the entrance to the Mozambican parliament to witness the inauguration of his party’s deputies.
called on Saturday for a three-day strike in Mozambique, starting today, and for “peaceful demonstrations” during the inauguration of deputies to parliament and the new Mozambican President, contesting the electoral process – but the demonstrations were not peaceful and have already caused at least less six deaths on Monday, on the first day of the protests.
Forquilha told the media that upon taking office, members of his party will start fighting for “electoral justice” within legal institutions.
“There is irrevocability of the results and we conform to the constitutional order. The fight moves on to another stage, which is discussing the issues in parliament, which is why we think it is important to take office”, declared Albino Forquilha, indicating that his party’s deputies will introduce a “new culture” of being in parliament.
Contrary to the request of Venâncio Mondlane, the presidential candidate who is leading the challenge to the electoral results, the party leadership, which gained popularity after the political agreement with Mondlane, decided to take office, although four deputies were missing.
“We took office because we are politicians and we are in this house to do politics. We understand that taking office guarantees political legitimacy to continue this fight of the people (…) As Podemos’s parliamentary bench, we are the bench of our candidate Venâncio Mondlane. There is no doubt that we were elected due to this political alliance. There is not and I do not understand that there is a rupture”, Ivandro Massingue, spokesperson for the Podemos bench, told Lusa.
Requests from presidents
The new president of the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique defended a “dialogue and inclusive” parliament in efforts to stem the post-election crisis in Mozambique.
“We will have to opt for a system of participatory inclusion, where all deputies, regardless of their political colors, are united around what the aspirations of Mozambicans are,” Margarida Talapa told the media, moments before being officially elected president of parliament.
“What we have to do is invest in dialogue and the active participation of all parliamentarians. Bringing what the aspirations of Mozambican society are and naturally resolving the conflicts we have. Our differences cannot impede the development of this country”, he said.
The elected President of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo highlighted the need to maintain peace and stability in the country, asking for the collaboration of the new parliament.
“The appeal I wanted to take advantage of to make (…) is really the need to maintain paz, a stability social, economic, political at the level of our country, so that we can continue to develop our country”, said Daniel Chapo, speaking to journalists at the Assembly of the Republic, in Maputo, before the start of the ceremony.
“I hope for a excellent collaboration [com o novo parlamento]. As you know very well, in addition to the Frelimo party, we also have Podemos, we will have Renamo, MDM, all these parties or parliamentary groups represent the desires of Mozambicans. Hence it is very important to have a open, frank debate at the level of this body”, said the President-elect.
Access to the Mozambican parliament, in Maputo, was heavily restricted, with several barricades placed by police and military personnel.
The capital woke up deserted, with practically no functioning transport and with several arteries around the parliament, on Avenida 24 de Julho, blocked, in front of a strong police and military apparatus, while commerce was closed.
For the inauguration of the new president, scheduled for Wednesday, the Mozambican Government decreed a day off. The measure is extended to the public and private sectors. Portugal will be represented at Daniel Chapo’s inauguration by the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, .
“We don’t have money”
The post-election crisis in Mozambique, with strikes since October, forced theeformulation of the State Budget 2024, including the 13th month cut for public employees, according to the Prime Minister, Adriano Maleiane.
“The will [de pagar o 13.º mês] there was, but the latest events have implied a reformulation of the Budget”, stated Adriano Maleiane, who is also Minister of Economy and Finance, alluding to the consequences of two and a half months of post-election strikes and demonstrations, with destruction and looting of public institutions and companies, contesting the election results.
“We are unable to do so, there are many issues to resolve. We have debts, overtime and such. We can’t have the money to pay. If we really had, we would have solved all these problems, but the important thing is that we were able to pay our normal salary and now we are working so that in the month of January there will be no lack of salary, even with all these problems that we had”, he stated, remembering that the payment of the 13th salary “was always considered to be conditional on the existence of financial availability”.
