By RFIPosted on 15-10-2019Modified on 15-10-2019 at 01:38

Thirteen million Mozambicans are being called to the polls this Tuesday, October 15 to choose the new President of the Republic, 250 deputies, ten governors and members of the provincial assemblies. For the presidential election, four candidates are in the running, including the outgoing president Filipe Nyusi, given favorite.

The stakes of these elections are important in a country plagued by the " hidden debt ", a serious financial crisis since the revelation in 2016, he had secretly borrowed $ 2 billion, and by violence.

Tensions remained lively ahead of the elections of October 15 despite the signing on August 6 of a peace treaty called "final" by President Nyusi and the new head of the Renamo Ossufo Momade supposed to put an end to sporadic clashes which had resumed in 2013. Moreover, for two years, the province of Cabo Delgado, in the extreme north of the country, is in the grip of violent attacks by unidentified armed groups.

What will happen to Cabo Delgado remains precisely the great unknown of this day of voting. Since the beginning of the year, nearly 200 people have been killed. The government says all steps are being taken to get the vote going normally, but according to Sala da Paz, a civil society observation mission, nearly 4,000 voters will not be able to vote in that province.

Cabo Delgado is a poor region located more than 3,000 km north of the capital. But it is off Pemba, capital of the province that monumental reserves of natural gas were discovered. More than 5,000 m3. This will propel Mozambique, the world's 7th poorest country, among the world's leading exporters of hydrocarbons.

" With this project, the children of peasants will become doctors ", repeated during his campaign the outgoing president, Filipe Nyusi.

Optimism and money, the candidate for re-election is in dire need. His party, the Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo), in power since independence, has plunged his country into a serious financial crisis after 2016, a "hidden debt" of $ 2 billion was revealed to the great day.

    On the same subject

    General elections in Mozambique: end of tense election campaign

    Mozambique: a murdered election observer

    South Africa: Decision to extradite former Mozambican Minister M. Chang postponed

    Mozambique: Renamo has signed a peace agreement

    comments