(Bloomberg) -- The lawyer for Mozambican opposition politician Venâncio Mondlane was gunned down early Saturday, a local news website reported.
Unidentified gunmen in Maputo, the capital, stopped the car in which Elvino Dias and another person were traveling after midnight on Saturday and riddled the vehicle with bullets, killing both, Carta de Moçambique reported. The site didn’t say where it got the information.
A policeman who answered an emergency line confirmed the killing, declining to provide his name or further information outside of a press conference that may take place later.
The killing ratchets up already high tensions in the gas-rich southeast African nation ahead of a national strike that Mondlane called for to take place Monday to protest what he labels fraud in the Oct. 9 election. The former lawmaker stood as an independent candidate and rode a wave of youth support as he sought to end the Mozambique Liberation Front’s 49-year rule.
Various election observers have raised questions about the credibility of the vote count, with those from the European Union citing evidence of potential ballot-box stuffing. The electoral authorities said aggrieved parties can seek redress from the courts, where they should present evidence.
The nation ranks as only “partly free,” according to Freedom House, a US advocacy group. Anastácio Matavel, an independent election observer, was killed just before the 2019 vote and several members of an elite police unit were convicted of his murder the following year, according to the Washington-based group.
Police on Friday warned citizens from participating in illegal demonstrations, and there is a heavy law enforcement and military presence in Maputo.
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