Two opposition leaders killed by gunmen in Mozambique before election protests

October 20, 2024

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters): Gunmen killed a Mozambique opposition lawyer and a party official after firing multiple rounds at a car in which they were travelling on Saturday, ratcheting up tensions ahead of protests against a disputed election result, rights groups said.

Mozambique’s new opposition Podemos party and its presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane have rejected provisional results showing a likely win for Frelimo, the party that has ruled Mozambique for half a century.

They have called for a nationwide strike on Monday.

Mozambican civil society election observer group More Integrity said the attack happened in the Bairro Da Coop neighbourhood of the capital Maputo, killing Podemos lawyer Elvino Dias and party representative Paulo Guambe.

“They were brutally assassinated (in a) cold-blooded murder,” Adriano Nuvunga, director of Mozambique’s Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD), told Reuters by telephone.

“The indications that around 10 to 15 bullets were shot, and they died instantly.”

Human Rights Watch also issued a statement confirming the attack.

According to the latest election tally, Frelimo is leading in all 11 provinces and its candidate Daniel Chapo is widely expected to win the Oct. 9 election, but Western observers have cast doubt on the credibility of the poll.

They noted reports of vote buying, intimidation, inflated voter rolls in Frelimo strongholds and a lack of transparency in collation—problems that have marred most polls since Frelimo first introduced democracy in 1994 after two decades in power.

Full results are expected on Oct. 24, but many fear Monday’s protest could turn bloody. Mozambique’s security forces have opened fire on political protesters in the past, including after last year’s local elections, according to human rights groups.