This Wednesday, the Constitutional Council (CC) rejected the appeals filed by the opposition parties in the municipalities of Manhiça, Xai-Xai and Mandlakazi on the grounds that they did not meet the requirements for a prior challenge.

Thus, the aspirations of the opposition parties, who wanted to see the electoral process that took place on October 11 annulled, were dashed.

In the municipality of Manhiça, the CC, quoted by the newspaper Evidências, did not uphold Renamo's appeal, stating that the appeal filed by the party led by Ossufo Momade was untimely under article 140(4) of the Electoral Law. In fact, the same argument was used by the Manhiça District Court to reject Renamo's application.

For the municipality of Xai-Xai, Gaza province, the Constitutional Council claims that Renamo and the MDM "submitted an application to the respective courts, without attaching the complaint, in which, after describing what they consider to be discrepancies between the votes they obtained at the polling stations and the votes on the intermediate tabulation map, they end by asking for the electoral truth expressed by the residents at the polling stations to be restored, in accordance with the notices", and therefore did not grant the appeals because the preconditions for a prior challenge had not been met.

Still in Gaza, specifically in the municipality of Mandlakazi, the Constitutional Council states that "Renamo did not present any specific request, apart from indicating the number of votes obtained by the contestants in the elections of October 11, 2023, as it did in the first instance, limiting itself to claiming that the Mandlakazi District Judicial Court decided not to grant the Electoral Litigation Appeal on the grounds that the conditions were not met, which, in a way, constitutes an ineptitude, which, under the terms of article 193, in conjunction with article 474(1)(a), both of the Constitution and the Constitution, is an ineptitude, which, under the terms of article 193, in conjunction with article 474(1)(a), both of the Constitution and the Constitution, is an ineptitude.Article 474(1)(a), both of the Code of Civil Procedure, leads to an outright dismissal.

On the basis of the grounds put forward by the largest opposition party in that district of Gaza province, the CC dismissed the appeal and upheld the sentence handed down by the Mandlakazi District Court.