Elections in Mozambique gives information on election and election results in Mozambique. An election is a process in which a vote is held to elect candidates to an office. It is the mechanism by which a democracy fills elective offices in the legislature, and sometimes the executive and judiciary, and in which electorates choose local government officials.

See election for a more comprehensive discussion and the List of democracy and elections-related topics for an overview on related topics.

Mozambique elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a five year term by the people. The Assembly of the Republic (Assembleia da República) has 250 members, elected for a five year term by proportional representation. Mozambique has a two-party system, which means that there are two dominant political parties, with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party.

1994

In the first democratic elections held in Mozambique, in 1994, FRELIMO candidate and president of Mozambique since 1986 Joaquim Chissano was elected and the opposition party and former guerillia group RENAMO aknowledged the result.

1999

In the elections in late 1999 President Joaquim Chissano from FRELIMO was re-elected with 52.3% of the vote, and FRELIMO secured 133 of 250 parliamentary seats. The main opposition parties candidate, RENAMO's Afonso Dhlakama , got 47,7% and the party won the remaining 117 parliamentary seats.

2004 - Presidential and Parliamentary election

In the December 1-2 2004 election Armando Guebuza, the new FRELIMO candidate, won expectedly with 63.7% of the votes, more than twice as many as RENAMO candidate Afonso Dhlakama (31.7%).
In the parliamentary election FRELIMO won 62% (1.8 million) of the votes, RENAMO 29.7% (905.000 votes) and 18 minor parties shared the remaining eight per cent. FRELIMO will hold 160 of the parliamentary seats, RENAMO 90.
The elections have been widely critiziced, also by the European Union Election Observation Mission to Mozambique. However, the elections shortcomings have not (also according to EU observers) affected the final result in the presidental election. The distribution of parliamentary seats among the parties will have been slightly altered though (RENAMO probably losing two or three seats to FRELIMO).
On February 2 2005 Guebuza was sworn in as president of the republic, but without Dhlakama and RENAMO's recognition and presence at the inauguration. RENAMO have, however, agreed to participate in the Parliament and the Council of State.

See also

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system

External links

• Electionworld
• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• African Elections Database