Election 2024

Mozambique will hold national and provincial elections on 9 October 2024 to elect the president, members of parliament, members of provincial assemblies and governors (except for the city of Maputo). The elections are taking place in a context of great political mistrust due to the poor performance of the electoral management bodies, which manipulate the electoral process in favour of the ruling party, FRELIMO. This means that electoral competition is not effective because there is the idea that there is already an expected winner, the ruling party. However, there are two or three opposition parties that have a good chance of winning seats in the Assembly of the Republic (the parliament) and in the provincial assemblies. These are RENAMO, MDM and PODEMOS, the first two of which already have seats in parliament and the last of which could be catapulted into parliament for the first time through its support for the presidential candidacy of Venâncio Mondlane. The risk of electoral violence is very high, with frequent clashes between supporters of the main parties, but also with the police using excessive force against opposition supporters who may publicly demonstrate against electoral fraud. The armed rebellion in northern Mozambique is expected to prevent elections from being held in some of the coastal villages of Cabo Delgado, but it is unlikely that any entire district will be unable to hold elections because of this conflict. MOZ TIMES provides comprehensive and dynamic coverage of the elections in Mozambique, with local correspondents throughout the country, and includes contextual analysis of key events, so that the reader is well informed about the electoral procedures from campaigning, voting, counting of the votes, up to to the announcement of results.