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Regional obsevers say Mozambique vote generally free and fair
A voter's finger is marked after voting in the general election in Maputo, October 15, 2014. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Grant Lee Neuenburg
17/10/2014
MAPUTO (Reuters) - Observers from southern African states declared Mozambique's elections generally free, fair, and credible on Friday despite opposition charges of intimidation and fraud.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) team was the first observer mission to give a preliminary verdict on the presidential and legislative elections held on Wednesday.
Provisional results showed the ruling Frelimo party heading for victory.
"Based on its observations, the SADC observer mission concluded that the 2014 presidential, legislative and provincial assembly elections in the Republic of Mozambique were generally peaceful, transparent, free, fair and credible," SADC said in a statement.
The poll pitted Frelimo presidential candidate and former defence minister Filipe Nyusiagainst the main opposition party Renamo's Afonso Dhlakama, an ex-guerrilla leader who emerged from a remote bush hideout last month.
The early indications of a Frelimo victory were in line with most expectations for the election, the fifth in the former Portuguese colony since the end of the 1975-1992 civil war, but Renamo has alleged fraud and intimidation at the polls.
Resource-rich but impoverished Mozambique is high on investor radar screens, with brisk annual economic growth rates of 8 percent fueled by discoveries of coal and natural gas.
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