Attackers killed a Mozambique opposition lawyer and a party official after firing rounds at a car in which they were travelling, ratcheting up tensions before protests against a disputed election result, the EU and rights groups have said.
Mozambique’s new opposition Podemos party and its presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane, have rejected provisional results showing a probable win for Frelimo, the party that has ruled Mozambique for half a century. They have called for a nationwide strike on Monday.
The Mozambican civil society election observer group More Integrity said the attack happened in the Bairro da Coop neighbourhood of the capital, Maputo, killing the Podemos lawyer Elvino Dias and the party representative Paulo Guambe.
“They were brutally assassinated [in a] cold-blooded murder,” said Adriano Nuvunga, the director of Mozambique’s Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD). “The indications [are] that around 10 to 15 bullets were shot, and they died instantly.”
The EU condemned the killings “in the strongest terms”, calling “for an immediate, thorough and transparent investigation”.
“In a democracy, there is no place for politically motivated killings,” its diplomatic service said, adding that its election observers were still in the country assessing the ongoing electoral process.
According to the latest election tally, Frelimo is leading in all 11 provinces, and its candidate, Daniel Chapo, is widely expected to win the 9 October election, but external observers have cast doubt on the poll’s credibility.
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 24 October, 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 and on Wednesday at a rally welcoming Mondlane to the northern city of Nampula, according to human rights groups.
Mondlane captured the imagination of many younger voters who have no memory of Frelimo winning independence from Portugal in 1975 or of its victory in a civil war that cost 1 million lives between 1977 and 1992.
Dias, the Podemos lawyer, had been leading legal efforts against the disputed elections, the Human Rights Watch researcher Zenaida Machado said on X.
“All of those found responsible for this crime should be brought to justice,” she said.
Reuters contributed to this report
