(Bloomberg) -- Mozambique’s top court ordered the electoral authority to clarify discrepancies in last month’s election results, amid growing anti-government protests that are set to culminate in a march in the capital Maputo on Thursday.
The Constitutional Council told the National Electoral Commission to explain the difference in the number of votes cast in parallel ballots for the presidency, parliament and provincial assemblies, according to a letter dated Nov. 5. The court gave a 72-hour deadline.
The official results, which the Constitutional Council is yet to verify, showed a landslide victory for the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front, extending its 49-years in power. Opposition presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane said the vote was rigged to deny him victory, and has called on supporters to “occupy” Maputo in protest.
There are growing fears that the march could end in intensifying violence, after at least two dozen died in unrest that started last month, according to the Maputo-based Center for Democracy and Human Rights. Mondlane, in a live stream Tuesday evening, said “the revolution has started in Mozambique,” while the defense ministry separately warned of a plot to overthrow an elected government.
An influential group of Catholic bishops called for dialog and for leaders to consider a government of national unity. President Filipe Nyusi is open to talks, state-owned Agência de Informação de Moçambique cited him as saying.
The participants in talks need to first build trust and that is a process, Nyusi said.
Podemos, the party backing Mondlane, has challenged the result in the top court and external observers raised concerns over irregularities including indications of ballot-box stuffing to the unjustified alteration of results.
Various groups have also questioned the difference in voting numbers between the three ballots, and even the electoral commission acknowledged the issue when it announced the results on Oct. 24. The legal deadline requiring the results be announced within 15 days of voting prevented it from interrogating the discrepancies, it said at the time.
The Mozambique Bar Association criticized that decision, saying a deadline cannot justify “hiding the electoral truth.”
(Updates with comments from the President in the third paragraph below the photo)
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