Mozambique's post-election protests mark shifting political landscape

At least three people were killed and over 60 injured in Maputo, Mozambique, during clashes between police and protesters opposing the October 9 elections, which they deem fraudulent. Since then, weeks of protests have led to at least 20 deaths, with hundreds more injured and arrested, News.Az reports citing foreign media.

At least three people were killed and more than 60 injured yesterday in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, during clashes between police and demonstrators protesting against what they consider to be the country’s fraudulent elections on Oct. 9. In the weeks of protests since then, at least 20 people have died and hundreds have been injured and arrested.

The sustained popular mobilization would have been difficult to predict a month ago, when millions of voters cast their ballots for Mozambique’s presidential, national assembly and provincial government elections. Turnout was low, with one Mozambican civil society group estimating that only around 35 percent of registered voters participated in the election.

Nonetheless, public expectations for change were high. Independent candidate Venancio Mondlane and the Podemos party with which he allied himself had captured the imagination of Mozambican voters—particularly the country’s large youth population—with a platform focused on making government more responsive and distributing economic rents more equitably.

News.Az