Frelimo's presidential candidate-elect Daniel Chapo criticized the wave of post-election demonstrations that resulted in around 300 deaths and the vandalizing and looting of commercial establishments.

The President-elect, according to the Constitutional Council, did not comment on the announcement of Venâncio Mondlane's return to the country this Thursday (09), nor did he say whether he would take part in his swearing-in ceremony.

The President-elect of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo of Frelimo, criticized the post-election demonstrations of the last two months on Tuesday (07).

"These demonstrations have caused incalculable damage, thousands of our brothers and sisters have lost their jobs and in the private sector there are people who have spent their whole lives building a certain asset that was lost in a single day," criticized the candidate who was proclaimed the winner of the presidential elections by the Constitutional Council.

"At the end of the day, we were destroying property that is ours, so people woke up in the morning, after having burned bombs, to find that they have a car and money, but no fuel; that they needed to eat, they had money, but they couldn't because the grocery store or the stall no longer existed in the neighborhood," Chapo added in a publication by the RFI.

Daniel Chapo said that the recent meetings between parties with parliamentary representation are aimed at producing "consensus" to be transformed into laws. As for the inclusion of Venâncio Mondlane in the dialogue, he said: "At the moment, he's not here, we have no way of including him, that's why we're saying that the meeting is related to the political parties with parliamentary seats and their leaderships."

"We think it's extremely important to realize that these meetings will lead to consensus and this consensus will then be debated by Mozambican society and will then flow into the Assembly of the Republic because this consensus then has to be transformed into laws," said Daniel Chapo, the candidate proclaimed the winner by the Constitutional Council, which has already set his inauguration for January 15.

Four Mozambican opposition parties (PODEMOS, MDM, Renamo and Nova Democracia) said they were open, after a new meeting with the still President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, to continuing a dialog for a social pact that would lead to reforms in the country, given the post-election tension. However, in recent days Venâncio Mondlane, who ran for the presidency supported by PODEMOS, has distanced himself from the hitherto extra-parliamentary party.

The party's president, Albino Forquilha, defended the swearing in of the PODEMOS MPs taking into account the results proclaimed by the Constitutional Council, but Venâncio Mondlane rejects these results, considers that the number of elected Podemos members is much higher and is against the swearing in.

(Photo DR)