Mozambicans on Wednesday held municipal elections in 65 municipalities.
The elections are not without controversy. During the voter registration process, they were many irregularities and outright rigging. For example, in some places there were ghost registration stations, where supposed Frelimo members were registered in the dead of the night; in other places people were bussed from towns with no municipalities.
The electoral bodies did not issue credentials for civil society observers in all the municipalities, especially in Beira, Nampula and Nacala, municipalities in the hands of the opposition but which Frelimo has vowed to wrest away by any means necessary.
Meanwhile, last night the opposition MDM (Mozambique’s Democratic Movement) and Renamo found ballot stubs in Nampula, meaning that some people had already voted before any polling station had opened.
Comment
Two months ago, a retired Angolan general turned businessman, owner of a football team and impresario, Bento Kangamba, told Mozambique Insights that the main opposition party, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) performed outstandingly in the capital Luanda, in the 2022 general elections, because of Angolans general dissatisfaction with the policies of the ruling MPLA (People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola) party.
“When fresh fish is sold in the streets, when meat is sold in the streets, how do we expect the MPLA not to lose Luanda? MPLA lost but our adversary was not UNITA,” said Kangamba, adding that the adversaries had been the high price of rice, beans, water and power. “UNITA had only taken advantage of the situation.”
UNITA’s resounding win in Luanda did not translate into a win throughout the country, meaning that MPLA was returned to power for a further five years.
A country where there is a growing dissatisfaction with the ruling party in Mozambique. The dissatisfaction has to do with several issues, not least of which is the haphazard implementation of Single Salary Table (TSU) approved in 2022 to eliminate asymmetries and keep the state wage bill under control in the medium term. However, the wage bill rose by 36 percent, from $179 million/month to $244,9 million/month.
The implementation was followed by a festival of blunders with some sectors getting a wage hike only for it to be lowered the following month. Those who were heavily hit are teachers, doctors and other health professionals – the doctors and health professionals staged unsuccessful strikes.
Furthermore, the state has been facing difficulties in paying all public servants in one fell swoop, with some sectors facing payment delays.
It is against this background that these municipal elections are being held. Frelimo’s star seems to be waning and this is visible. For Mozambicans, Frelimo is synonymous with corruption, inefficiency, inequality and poverty for many and business opportunities for a few. Poverty statistics try to disguise the actual conditions, which are visible in the streets of the capital and major cities, to no avail.
The informal sector has grown by leaps and bounds in the past five years, as the state seems to have reduced its capacity to cope with the situation, and the corruption has gained progressively space in the state bureaucracy and business, creating a group of oligarchs who control the country’s economy.
The country has gone from bad decision to bad decision, especially because of bad leadership. Perhaps because Frelimo realised that it might lose grip on power in more municipalities than it holds currently, it ensured that the playing field has been anything but level.
This was roughly the scenario in the run-up to the municipal elections, showing that someone is betting everything to hold on to power. For example, on the Nampula ballot stubs found yesterday, it shows that Frelimo plans to win by hook or by crook in opposition strongholds such as Beira and Nampula.
Nampula is an interesting case because that is where Celso Correia, Frelimo’s campaign director, set his headquarters in the past two weeks. Any Frelimo win in Nampula will likely be tainted by accusations of rigging and will bust Correia’s bubble that he is a smooth operator.
Ultimately, these elections are a show for “the English to see and the Russians to admire”.
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