The mayor of the city of Quelimane, in Zambezia province, Manuel de Araújo, has expressed his dissatisfaction with the Constitutional Council (CC) ruling ordering a recount of votes in 39 polling stations in the municipality.

Speaking on home soil after a tour of several countries where he exposed the irregularities found in the partial counting of votes in the municipality, Manuel de Araújo said that the CC's decision did not meet expectations.

"The CC ruling falls short of our expectations. I think they didn't do the accounts as they should have done. It seems to me that they lack the courage to tell the truth," he said.

In his view, the so-called truth "is naked. The victory in Quelimane belongs to the Renamo party. We have figures and accounts. And so the CC was expected to attribute the victory to Renamo, "without circles and commas".

Welcomed by a large crowd, he said that the appeal to the CC was submitted in good time, including the notices, and that the notices were published on the internet the day after the elections. "So anyone who knows how to do arithmetic will have no doubts about the result."

He said that the purpose of his trips abroad was to alert the international community to the figures.

"I heard that some elements of SISE [the State Information and Security Service] arrested a young man who wanted to know where the notices were. The notices are in the Constitutional Council, in well-stocked vaults in London, Washington, Paris, all over the world," he said.

He noted that the outside meetings with senators, congressmen, members of government, journalists and other entities were aimed at defending the whole country, "not just Quelimane. We went to defend democracy".

Manuel de Araújo said that he had visited seven countries: the United States, Germany, France, Portugal, Italy, Brazil and Turkey.

He also said that duly acknowledged copies had been sent. "We put other notices on cloud [cloud]".

On the other hand, he stressed that the legal marches will continue "until the final verdict. And, depending on the results, responsibility will pass from the party to the people of Quelimane. They will no longer be under our guidance. They will know what to do.