General election in Mozambique 2009
The parliamentary elections in Mozambique took place on October 28, 2009 at the same time as the presidential election and the first provincial elections. The general election was the fourth general election since the end of the Mozambican Civil War . The elections ended with a huge victory for the ruling party Frente da Libertação de Moçambique (FRELIMO), a defeat of the only significant opposition party Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (RENAMO) and a respectable success for the newly founded party Movimento Democrático de Moçambique (MDM).
24 political parties and five party coalitions had applied to participate in the election at the Comissão Nacional de Eleições - CNE, the national election commission. 19 parties were admitted, only five of them in more than seven of the 13 constituencies (including the “Africa” and “Rest of the World” districts for Mozambicans staying abroad).
Democratic standards
As in the previous elections, there was clear criticism of the democratic standards of the elections. In addition to the preference given to FRELIMO, whose supporters are said to have massively and unfairly used state resources for party propaganda, observers particularly criticized the fact that the newly founded MDM had been excluded for formal reasons in nine of 13 electoral districts. Election observers from the European Union observed numerous irregularities in the counting of votes in polling stations; however, the irregularities would not have a decisive influence on the election results.
Election results
- Frelimo : 191
- RENAMO : 51
- MDM : 8
| Results of the 2009 general election | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Political party | Number of votes | Share of votes | Seats |
| Frelimo | 2,907,335 | 74.66% | 191 |
| RENAMO | 688.782 | 17.68% | 51 |
| Movimento Democrático de Moçambique (MDM) | 152.836 | 3.93% | 8th |
| Partido de Liberdade Democrática (PLD) | 26,929 | 0.69% | 0 |
| Partido para a Paz, Democracia e Desenvolvimento (PDD) | 22,410 | 0.58% | 0 |
| Partido os Verdes de Moçambique (PVM) | 19,577 | 0.50% | 0 |
| Aliança Democrática de Antigos Combatentes para o Desenvolvimento (ADACD) | 17,275 | 0.44% | 0 |
| Partido de Solidariedade e Liberdade (PAZS) | 16,626 | 0.43% | 0 |
| Aliança Independente de Moçambique (ALIMO) | 14,959 | 0.38% | 0 |
| Coligação União Eleitoral (UE) | 6,786 | 0.17% | 0 |
| Partido de Reconcilliação Nacional (PARENA) | 5,610 | 0.14% | 0 |
| Partido Ecologista - Movimento da Terra (ECOLOGISTA-MT) | 5,267 | 0.14% | 0 |
| Movimento Patriótico para Democracia (MPD) | 2,433 | 0.06% | 0 |
| União dos Democratas de Moçambique - Partido Popular (UDM-PT) | 2,190 | 0.06% | 0 |
| União para a Mudança (UM) | 1,641 | 0.04% | 0 |
| Partido Trabalhista (PT) | 1,239 | 0.03% | 0 |
| Partido Nacional dos Operários e Camponeses (PANAOC) | 852 | 0.02% | 0 |
| Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) | 712 | 0.02% | 0 |
| Partido De Reconciliação Democrática Social (PRDS) | 399 | 0.01% | 0 |
| valid votes: 3,893,858 | invalid votes: 493,392 | Turnout: 44.44% | 250 |
Source:
A result published on November 9th, 2009 still contained inconsistencies, the results added up to more than 100%. Of the 16 other parties that could be elected in one or more electoral districts alongside FRELIMO, RENAMO and MDM, none of the nationwide received even 1% of the votes.
The results of the parliamentary elections broken down by provinces (n. Z. Stands for "not allowed, differences in the number of seats in a province mostly result from different population developments):
| Results of the parliamentary elections broken down by province | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| province | Total seats 2009 (2004) | Seat FRELIMO | Seat RENAMO | Seats MDM |
| Niassa | 14 (12) | 12 (9) | 2 (3) | 0 |
| Cabo Delgado | 22 (22) | 19 (18) | 3 (4) | nz |
| Nampula | 45 (50) | 32 (27) | 13 (23) | nz |
| Zambezia | 45 (48) | 26 (19) | 19 (29) | nz |
| Tete | 20 (18) | 18 (14) | 2 (4) | nz |
| Manica | 16 (14) | 12 (7) | 4 (7) | nz |
| Sofala | 20 (22) | 10 (6) | 5 (18) | 5 |
| Inhambane | 16 (16) | 15 (15) | 1 (1) | 0 |
| Gaza | 16 (17) | 16 (17) | 0 (0) | nz |
| Maputo (province) | 16 (13) | 15 (12) | 1 (1) | nz |
| Maputo city | 18 (16) | 14 (14) | 1 (2) | 3 |
| Africa | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | nz |
| Rest of the world | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | nz |
| total | 250 (250) | 191 (160) | 51 (90) | 8th |
Failed RENAMO boycott
The head of RENAMO Afonso Dhlakama ordered the elected MPs of his party not to take their seats because he did not recognize his party's electoral defeat. However, he was not able to assert himself, at the beginning of 2010 almost all RENAMO MPs had taken their oath and accepted their mandate .
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.eueom-mozambique.eu/EN/PDF/PS_EN.pdf ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4840702,00.html
- ↑ http://allafrica.com/stories/200911180961.html
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from November 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.poptel.org.uk/mozambique-news/newsletter/election2009v8.html
- ↑ http://www.poptel.org.uk/mozambique-news/newsletter/election2009v8.html
- ↑ http://www.poptel.org.uk/mozambique-news/newsletter/aim396.html#story9
