Mozambique post-election violence death toll rises to 151: Election monitoring group

By Jamal Jamal

LILONGWE, Malawi (AA) - At least 21 people have been confirmed dead in acts of violence since Monday after Mozambique’s top court confirmed ruling party Frelimo’s candidate Daniel Chapo winner of the widely disputed Oct. 9 presidential elections, the interior minister said on Tuesday.

“At total of 236 acts of serious violence have been reported across the country which so far has to 25 getting wounded and about 21 losing lives,” Pascoal Ronda told journalists.

The latest fatalities brought the death toll in the country to 151 since Oct. 21, when deadly protests erupted after the electoral body declared Chapo the winner of the elections, according to Plataforma Decide, an election monitoring group.

As soon as the country’s Constitutional Council, which has the highest authority in all matters about elections in the Southern African nation, confirmed Chapo's victory, hundreds of supporters of exiled opposition leader Venancio Miondlane took to the streets to protest the results.

Protesters have been accused of vandalizing police stations and other public institutions.

On Monday, a seven-judge bench of the Constitutional Council upheld an earlier announcement by the country’s electoral body declaring that Chapo had won the Oct. 9 polls, but it reduced his win margin from 71% of the total vote to 65%.

A few days before the top court made the determination, Mondlane who is in self-imposed exile warned citizens of “difficult days ahead.”