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Albino Forquilha, leader of Podemos
NGO denounces bribery situation and asks for audit. Albino Forquilha, leader of Podemos, Mondlane’s party, is said to have “sold electoral justice”.
The Mozambican non-governmental organization Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD) today submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office a complaint about an alleged bribe to the president of Mozambique.the Podemos party, which supported Venâncio Mondlane’s presidential candidacy.
“It is information from people who say they are close to this operation. We came here to do the complaint to the competent institution and this must make audit of its public expenditures and assets after a certain point”, he told the media Adriano Nuvungadirector of the CDD, moments after submitting the document at the premises of the Central Anti-Corruption Office (GCCC) in Maputo.
At issue is the divergence between presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who is leading the biggest challenge to the electoral results ever in Mozambique, and the party that supported him, the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), until last year aextra-parliamentary political formation which is now the main opposition force in the country.
Registered in May 2019 and composed of dissidents from the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo)Podemos has seen its popularity increase since the announcement, on August 21, of support for Mondlane’s presidential candidacy, as a result of a “political agreement”, shortly after Mondlane had his coalition (CAD) rejected by the Constitutional Council due to “irregularities ”.
A week ago, the president of Podemos, Albino Forquilhaadmitted that there are divergences in the “fighting strategy” between the party and Mondlane, defending the end of the demonstrations for dialogue, although he promises to comply with the established agreement.
Although the agreement is still in force, the relationship between the parties became tense when the party decided take office in parliament without Mondlanewho argues that the results were fraudulent and, therefore, the inauguration, which was boycotted by two other political parties (Renamo and MDM), was hasty.
According to the CDD complaint, Albino Forquilha allegedly received an amount of 219 million meticais (3.3 million euros) to “sell electoral justice”.
“Having been the payment in kindas we are told, is also easy to track,” added Nuvunga.
Lusa contacted Podemos’s communications department, which promised a reaction at an “opportune time”.
Podemos is the result of dissent from former members of Frelimo, who called for more “economic inclusion” and left the party in power, claiming at the time “disenchantment” and different ambitions.
The results promulgated by the CC on the 23rd point to Podemos as largest opposition party in Mozambique in the next parliament, with 43 seats, removing a status that belonged to the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) since the first multiparty elections, in 1994.
Of the 250 seats that make up the Assembly of the Republic, Renamo went from 60 deputies, which it obtained in the 2019 legislature, to 28 parliamentarians.
Frelimo, in power since independence, maintained a parliamentary majority, with 171 deputies.
In the presidential elections, the CC, the last instance of appeal in electoral disputes, proclaimed Daniel Chapo, candidate supported by Frelimo, as winnerwith 65.17% of the votes.
Chapo’s election as Filipe Nyusi’s successor is, however, contested in the streets and the CC’s announcement increased the chaos that the country has been experiencing since October, with pro-Mondlane protesters – a candidate who, according to the Constitutional Council, obtained just 24% of the votes, but claimed victory – in protests demanding the “restitution of electoral truth ”, with barricades, looting and clashes with the police.
Clashes between the police The protesters have already caused 300 deaths and more than 600 people were injured by gunshots, according to civil society organizations that are following the process.
