Movimento Democrático de Moçambique

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Supporters of the MDM, here with the candidate Fernando Amélia Nhaca for Inhambane for the local elections in 2013

Movimento Democrático de Moçambique (MDM) is a party founded on March 6, 2009 in Mozambique . Its chairman is Daviz Simango , the popular mayor of the city of Beira , where the party was founded.

The party emerged as a reaction to authoritarian structures within RENAMO , the country's second largest party. At the local elections in 2003, Daviz Simango was still victorious as a candidate for RENAMO, and another candidacy for the next local elections seemed a matter of course. Obviously fearing competition from the popular Simango, Afonso Dhlakama , the powerful chairman of RENAMO, banned party member Simango from running for RENAMO in the mayoral elections.

Simango then received broad support from parts of the RENAMO in Beira, but also from other groups, was able to stand as an independent candidate and was elected mayor of Beiras with 62% of the votes against the will of the RENAMO leadership.

In its founding phase, the party mainly attracted dissatisfied RENAMO members. The symbol of the Movimento Democrático de Moçambique is the rooster, the battle cry of the supporters, "Kikeriki", stands for the call to the citizens of the country to wake up and to stand up for changes in Mozambique.

Previous election results

2009 presidential election

After lengthy discussions in the party, Daviz Simango was also put up as a candidate for the 2009 presidential election in Mozambique , although there was no chance . As one of three candidates, his candidacy was confirmed by the Constitutional Court of Mozambique and Simango won 8.5% of the vote. Despite the modest-sounding percentage, this is a respectable success that has not yet been won by any candidate in the history of free elections in Mozambique who did not belong to one of the two parties in Mozambique that have dominated the political landscape, FRELIMO or RENAMO.

Parliamentary elections 2009

The MDM also took part in the parliamentary elections taking place in Mozambique in 2009 and won 3.8% and thus eight seats in parliament. However, the party was only approved in four of Mozambique's 10 provinces . Projections based on the results of the presidential election assume that if the party had been approved, the number of seats in parliament would have doubled for the MDM in the other provinces. The MDM had its strongholds in the Sofala province and in Maputo City. In Sofala it won a quarter of the seats and thus just as many as the RENAMO that has ruled there until now.

Provincial elections 2009

Finally, the MDM also took part in the 2009 provincial elections . These elections, which were carried out for the first time, were not very meaningful, however, as due to an opaque admission procedure that was changed shortly before the election, FRELIMO was unopposed in half of all electoral districts and RENAMO was only able to stand for election in a few places - partly through its own fault. The MDM struggled with formal problems similar to those of RENAMO and under these conditions only won seats in three provinces. In its stronghold, the province of Sofala, it has since formed the largest opposition party with 20 representatives in a parliament with 80 seats.

With these results in 2009, the MDM changed the Mozambican party landscape, traditionally dominated by the two parties still from the Mozambican civil war , FRELIMO and RENAMO ; the country's traditional two-party system was ended by a serious third party.

By-elections in several municipalities in 2011

In the by-elections of the mayors in three Mozambican cities on December 7, 2011, the MDM candidate, Manuel de Araujo, won the most votes in the city of Quelimane in the province of Zambezia - in which the MDM could not win a seat in 2009 - and left the second-placed candidate the FRELIMO far behind, with which the MDM provides the mayor here.

Local elections 2013

Supporters of the MDM during the election campaign for the local elections 2013 in Dondo

In the 2013 local elections - boycotted by Renamo - MDM won an average of 30% of the votes from the 53 participating local authorities. The mayor's seats in Beira and Quelimane were confirmed and a majority including the mayor's seat in Nampula was added - after the election was repeated with a low turnout. The victory in Gurué , which was also claimed by MDM, was not recognized by the electoral commission due to a formal error despite credible evidence of vote manipulation by FRELIMO supporters. The obvious violations of the electoral law here, however, led to the fact that the constitutional council decided for new guru elections. In addition, MDM won around 40% of the vote in the capital, Maputo, and in the country's second largest city, Matola.

2014 presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections

In the presidential election in Mozambique in 2014 , MDM candidate Daviz Simango had to accept a slight decrease in votes compared to 2009 and still achieved 6.3% of the votes, but was able to increase the proportion of votes in the parliamentary elections to 8.3% and win significantly more seats in the provincial elections , where the party was only approved in some provinces in 2009.

Further developments after the 2009 elections

March 2009 Daviz Simango appointed Ismael Mussa as the first Secretary General of the MDM. The party had not had a general secretary since it was founded. On April 8, 2010, the Parliament, the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique , amended its rules of procedure and thus enabled the 8 MPs of the MDM to be recognized as a parliamentary group. The previous rules of procedure only stipulated this from 11 members, but the MDM prevailed with the argument that this restriction was not constitutional. FRELIMO supported this request.

In October 2017, the mayor of Nampula , MDM member Mahamudo Amurane , was shot dead in Nampula.

Web links

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  1. ^ Annette Schwarzbauer: Wake-up call with Hahn - The new party MDM in Mozambique. (PDF; 32 kB) Country report. In: kas.de. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, March 11, 2009, accessed on July 15, 2019 .
  2. ^ Mozambique Elections 2009 Results (Update 3). (No longer available online.) In: clubofmozambique.com. Club of Mozambique, November 3, 2009, archived from the original on April 2, 2015 ; accessed on July 15, 2019 (English, source: Agência de Informação de Moçambique NEWS).
  3. ↑ Joseph Hanlon: 2009 Elections Mozambique political process bulletin Number 30. (PDF; 56 kB) New parliament: Frelimo 192, Renamo 48, MDM 8. (No longer available online.) In: cip.org.mz. Centro de Integridade Pública and AWEPA, the European Parliamentarians for Africa, November 1, 2009, p. 2 , archived from the original on October 18, 2011 (English, extrapolation of MDM results 2009, the party would have competed everywhere): “If MDM had been allowed to stand everywhere? ";
  4. ↑ MOZAMBIQUE 191 News reports & clippings, December 8, 2011.
  5. ^ Mozambique political process bulletin Issue 54 - part 1 of 2 parts - December 23, 2013.
  6. ^ Mozambique political process bulletin Number Number LE-67, January 23, 2014, edited by Joseph Hanlon.
  7. ^ National Elections 2014 newsletters. In: open.ac.uk, accessed on July 15, 2019.
  8. ^ Mozambique News Agency - AIM Reports. No. 494. In: poptel.org.uk, October 31, 2014, accessed July 15, 2019.
  9. ↑ Mozambique News Agency - AIM Reports No. 398: MDM appoints Secretary-General. In: poptel.org.uk, March 16, 2010, accessed July 15, 2019.
  10. ^ Mozambique News Agency - AIM Reports No.400: Assembly votes for MDM parliamentary group. In: poptel.org.uk, April 27, 2010, accessed July 15, 2019.
  11. ↑ Mozambican mayor assassinated. In: apanews.net, October 4, 2017, accessed on October 19, 2017.