Electoral campaign comes to an end in Mozambique

It was a race for all or nothing in Mozambique on Sunday as all the three presidential candidates and political parties closed the 45-day electoral campaign.

The general and provincial elections are to be held on October 15 to elect a new president, 250 MPs and 980 members of the provincial assemblies.

Afonso Dhlakama, the Renamo leader, chose the northern province of Nampula, the biggest electoral district in Mozambique with almost 2 million potential voters and alone elects 47 MPs, to close his electoral campaign.

Filipe Nyusi, the ruling Frelimo candidate chose Maputo which elects 17 MPs, and Daviz Simango of Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) chose Beira, capital of the central province of Sofala, which elects 21 MPs.

Nyusi, who has traveled 20,000 kilometers and visited 120 of the Mozambican districts, promised in his rally in Maputo city to improve the living conditions of the teachers and other public servants as well as to fight against corruption and to bring the separation of powers in Mozambique.

Dhlakama was more radical in his speech on Sunday and reiterated that only a Renamo government led by him will solve Mozambique's problems and will bring social justice, stability, peace, and fight against corruption and poverty in Mozambique.

In Beira, the MDM candidate Simango reiterated that he will work to bring more national and international investment so that more jobs can be created in Mozambique as a way to fight poverty and unemployment.

On the other hand, 10 hired helicopters started distributing voting materials to remote areas of Mozambique on Sunday.

According to Lucas Jose, from the Secretariat of Electoral Administration (STAE), all voting materials which were produced in South Africa are now in Mozambique. The voting bulletins will be placed in the voting stations by Tuesday morning in collaboration with the Mozambican police.

The voting stations will open at 7:00 a.m. local time and close at 18:00 p.m. on October 15.

The former president of Cape Verde, Pedro Pires, who is leading the observer team of the Community of Portuguese-speaking countries (CPLP), met on Sunday with Renamo leader Dhlakama, who promised that he will respect the result of the elections.

Pires will meet in the next days with the Frelimo and MDM candidates to get the some assurances. Enditem