Thousands of people, including Renamo supporters and informal vendors, took to the streets in Maputo this Thursday to claim "victory" for their candidate in the city's municipal elections, although without confirmation from the National Electoral Commission (CNE).

To the media, MP Muhamad Yassine, amid shouts from thousands of his party's supporters outside Renamo's headquarters in Maputo city, said that "Victory is done, Renamo has won Maputo and we are going to enforce the will of all Mozambicans".

Despite this claim, there is still no official information on the results of these elections across the country from the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) or the National Electoral Commission (CNE).

Led by the party's candidate, Venâncio Mondlane, the "rescue Maputo city" caravan, as it is called by Renamo supporters, toured the downtown area of the Mozambican capital, almost always with thousands of people, including supporters and informal traders, singing "people in power", the title of one of the songs by the social intervention rapper Azagaia, who lost his life in March this year.

"These are local elections that mark a democratic transition, which first involves the start of a political transition," Venâncio Mondlane told the media, quoted by Lusa, as he hung from the roof of a car escorted by thousands of people, with no police present.

Venâncio Mondlane, 49, is a forestry engineer and a member of parliament. In these elections, Mondlane has once again tried to "rescue Maputo", as he puts it in his slogan, after being defeated in the 2018 elections with 36.43% of the votes, against 56.95% for the Frelimo candidate.

The sixth municipal elections took place in 65 municipalities across the country during the day on Wednesday, with the polls closing at 18:00.

In the meantime, the STAE is not giving specific deadlines for the release of results, other than those provided for in the legislation. Thus, during the night, the partial tabulation was carried out at each polling station, which can have up to 800 voters, and the respective notice was published at the door, followed by the intermediate municipal tabulation, at district level, within three days of the vote, and then, within five days, the centralization of the results by province.

The National Electoral Commission then has up to 15 days after the vote to publish the final results.