Elections in Mozambique
The first free, equal and secret elections in Mozambique were the parliamentary elections and the presidential election of 1994 , which took place at the same time , marking Mozambique's transition from a one-party state to a multi-party system . National elections to the People's Assembly had already taken place in 1977 and 1986 , but the "voters" were only able to confirm the candidates chosen by the ruling party. There were no general elections during the Portuguese colonial period, although during the Estado Novo phase, the "overseas province" of Mozambique sent representatives to parliament in Portugal . Local elections have also been held in Mozambique every five years since 1998 . In 2009, elections were held at the provincial level for the first time. Now largely free elections have become an integral part of Mozambique's political system .
Elections for the settlers during the colonial period
There were no general elections in Mozambique during the Portuguese colonial era, although two MPs from Mozambique , Portugal, have represented the colony in the Cortes , Portugal's parliament , since the 1890s . In 1911 a colonial council was established in Lisbon to represent the interests of the various colonies. The representatives of Mozambique were elected indirectly by assemblies of "leading settlers", that is, selected residents of Mozambique of Portuguese origin. In 1920 the colonial administration created a "Legislative Council" for Mozambique, the majority of whose members were determined, but to a small extent elected by a small group of the population.
“Elections” to the People's Assembly of Mozambique
The elections to the People's Assembly of Mozambique held in 1977 and 1986 were sham elections that took place under the conditions of a one-party state under the leadership of the Marxist-Leninist state party FRELIMO . The central committee of FRELIMO drew up a list of candidates, which was confirmed at a series of meetings without discussion. There was some democratic progress in the elections to the People's Assembly in 1986 compared to the elections to the People's Assembly in 1977 : use of ballot boxes instead of public polls; the list included slightly more candidates than places; Although the candidates were named by FRELIMO, they did not have to be party members. Nevertheless, there remained controlled elections with minimal influence by the "voters".
Parliamentary elections since 1994
Six parliamentary elections have been held in Mozambique since 1994, which international observers, despite certain irregularities and despite an obvious advantage of the ruling party FRELIMO, were classified as predominantly democratic in the sense of free, equal and secret. All elections were won by FRELIMO with a large majority, while the former guerrilla organization RENAMO became the largest opposition party. The elections thus remained marked by the conflict between the two former opponents in the Mozambique civil war . Although around 20 different parties ran in each of these elections, one can - since all but two of the parties had no chance - clearly of a two-party system without a change of power in Mozambique until 2009 . In the parliamentary elections in Mozambique in 2009 , the RENAMO spin-off Movimento Democrático de Moçambique (MDM) entered for the first time a third party, the results of which were of certain importance. The MDM is the first party apart from FRELIMO and RENAMO to be represented in parliament since the now insignificant União Democrática de Moçambique won five seats in parliament once in 1994.
Presidential elections since 1994
The six presidential elections in Mozambique, which have taken place since 1994, reflect the same balance of power as the parliamentary elections: The candidate of the undisputed ruling party FRELIMO has won each of the previous presidential elections, while RENAMO, with its party leader Afonso Dhlakama, is the only serious but always inferior candidate posed. Only in the 1999 presidential election was the RENAMO candidate dangerously close to the result of the FRELIMO candidate with 47% of the vote. Until 2009, no third candidate had managed to get 3% of the vote nationwide. Here, too, stand in the 2009 elections by Daviz Simango , the candidate of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique, won out over 8% of the vote.
Local elections since 1998
The first local elections, which were held in 1998 , were boycotted by RENAMO and 15 other parties because of feared election fraud. With a few exceptions, therefore, only FRELIMO took part in the election, which was made ad absurdum. The local elections in Mozambique in 2003 can therefore be seen as the real start of democratic elections at local level. Only FRELIMO and RENAMO competed nationwide. RENAMO won the majority in four cities, a few small parties were able to achieve success in individual places, in all other cities FRELIMO won the often overwhelming majority. In the local elections in 2008 , RENAMO received the receipt for disregarding the elections at the local level with an even worse result and the split of their party organization in the former RENAMO stronghold of Beira , in which the former RENAMO member Daviz Simango won the mayor's post, which in 2009 led to the establishment of the aforementioned Movimento Democrático de Moçambique party. The local elections in 2013 were boycotted by RENAMO, while MDM won around 30% of the vote on average in the country and provided the mayor in four cities - two of which were only after contesting and new elections.
Provincial elections since 2009
The first provincial elections in Mozambique in 2009 were under a similarly unfavorable star as the first local elections in 1998: Since RENAMO had neglected the procedure for admitting its candidates to the provincial elections in favor of the presidential elections taking place at the same time, RENAMO could not be elected in a number of constituencies. The newly founded group Movimento Democrático de Moçambique also had to struggle with formal obstacles. In the province of Sofala it nevertheless won a third of the seats, replacing RENAMO as the largest opposition party. In almost half of all voting districts, however, FRELIMO was the only party on the ballot and naturally received 100% of the votes.
See also
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- ↑ Malyn Newitt: A History of Mozambique. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1995, ISBN 0253340071 : Page 390
- ↑ Malyn Newitt: A History of Mozambique. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1995, ISBN 0253340071 : 427, 474
- ↑ British Foreign & Commonwealth Office: MOZAMBIQUE: THE REGIONAL VOTE IN LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS ( Memento of the original dated December 3, 2008 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. , May 2000 (PDF 38KB)
