Frelimo, the ruling party, on Thursday rejected accusations of fraud in the October 11 local elections, maintaining that it won the vote on merit.

After the results were announced, Frelimo's representative on the National Electoral Commission (CNE), Verónica Macamo, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, said that "we didn't commit fraud, we worked to win these elections".

According to the CNE, the Frelimo party won in 64 of the country's 65 municipalities, with the exception of Beira, which was won by the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), the third largest party.

"It's obvious that we are satisfied with the results announced," emphasized the Frelimo representative on the CNE.

Verónica Macamo argued that the opposition's challenge to the election results "has its own seat" and "is following the procedure laid down by law".

"We, as the Frelimo party, have only one appeal to make: that we all remain calm and let the bodies work," Macamo stressed, affirming that the party's mayors will work to improve the living conditions of the people in their territories.

The president of the CNE, Carlos Matsinhe, who read out the minutes of the results, said that eight members of the body voted in favor of the general tabulation of the vote, five against and two abstained.

Even so, Matsinhe acknowledged that "the centralization and tabulation" of the results of the October 11 local elections "gave rise to heated debates in the CNE", and that there were "differences of opinion" about "irregularities and illegalities" reported throughout the process.

According to Mozambican electoral legislation, the results of the vote still have to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council (CC), the country's highest electoral judicial body.