Mozambique’s Top Court Upholds Disputed Presidential Election Result

Mozambique’s highest court on Monday upheld the results of a contested presidential election in which the candidate from the governing party was declared the winner despite allegations of widespread irregularities at the polls and deadly protests across the country over the past several months.

The ruling cleared the way for Daniel Chapo, the candidate for Frelimo, the party that has governed the southern African nation since its independence from Portugal in 1975, to become president.

The top opposition candidate, Venâncio Mondlane, had vowed to dispute the result and called on Mozambicans to protest against what he sees as the governing party clinging to power through fraud.

Frelimo officials have denied any wrongdoing. But several independent election observers issued reports after the voting in October stating that they had witnessed irregularities in the process including “unjustified alteration of election results,” according to a statement by the European Union’s observer mission.

Mozambique, a country of 33 million people, is one of the poorest in the world and has also been coping with the effects of the climate crisis. Cyclone Chido, which struck last week, killed at least 94 in the country’s north.

That region is also struggling to contain an Islamic State-backed insurgency. The conflict has led lucrative natural gas projects to be placed on hold — projects that could be a boon amid an economic crisis that has left many jobless.