The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, this Tuesday once again called for dialog between the parties to the conflict in Mozambique, implicitly refuting the criticism leveled at him by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane.

"If you read my statement carefully, it says everything I wanted to say. As President of the Republic, I took note of the results announced by the Constitutional Council and then I called for a lot, a lot of dialog in relation to this moment in life. That's what I said and that's all," said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa during a visit to Barreiro for the traditional Christmas ginjinha, where he has been going since he was elected in 2016.

Marcelo was answering questions from journalists about the criticism of his statement, and that of the government, on the outcome of the presidential elections in Mozambique.

Earlier in the afternoon, Venâncio Mondlane considered the comments by the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister of Portugal on the proclamation of Frelimo and its presidential candidate as the winners of the elections by the Constitutional Council of Mozambique (CC) to be regrettable.

"It is really regrettable that the Prime Minister and the President of the Portuguese Republic have made pronouncements confirming or congratulating Frelimo and its candidate in light of the highly problematic, fallacious and adulterated results that were proclaimed by the CC," said Venâncio Mondlane on his Facebook account.

The opposition candidate went further, saying: "It's regrettable that a country that we thought could be Mozambique's gateway to Europe, so that they could be our spokespeople to achieve a peaceful situation, is passive in relation to the crisis that Mozambique is experiencing."

The post-election violence in Mozambique was triggered by the non-acceptance of the results of the presidential and legislative elections on October 9 by Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the Podemos Party.

On Monday afternoon, Mozambique's Constitutional Council proclaimed Daniel Chapo, the candidate supported by Frelimo, as the winner of the election for President of the Republic, with 65.17% of the votes, succeeding Filipe Nyusi in office, as well as the victory of Frelimo, which retained its parliamentary majority. (/NMinuto)