General elections were held in

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

on 15 October 2019. During the leadup to the elections, assassinations and significant intimidation of prominent leaders of opposition parties and election observers were alleged. In addition, state resources, media, and aid for cyclone victims were also alleged to be used in favour of the ruling party (

FRELIMO FRELIMO (; from , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It has governed the country since its independence from Portugal in 1975. Founded in 1962, FRELIMO began as a nationalist movement fighting for the self-determination ...

) and its candidates. Local elections observers, civil society organizations, the Commonwealth Observer Group, the European Union Election Observation Mission, and several national and international entities classified the elections as rigged. Nevertheless, the incumbent president

Filipe Nyusi Filipe Jacinto Nyusi (; born 9 February 1959) is a Mozambican politician who was the fourth president of Mozambique from 2015 to 2025. He has also served as the Chairman of the Southern African Development Community from 2020 to 2022. During his ...

was declared re-elected with 73% of the vote. The main opposition party

RENAMO RENAMO (from the Portuguese , ) is a Mozambican political party and militant group. The party was founded with the active sponsorship of the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) in May 1977 from anti-communist dissidents oppos ...

as well as the other oppositions parties involved in the elections contested the results, claiming there were numerous irregularities, and accusing FRELIMO of "massive electoral fraud", including hundreds of thousands of "ghost voters". As evidence for the international community, Ossufo Momade, the president of the main opposition party

, transported to Europe a box filled with vote ballots that had been marked in favor of the incumbent president

before the commencement of voting. Despite these occurrences, the international community largely ignored any concerns of fraud, and gradually countries started recognizing the incumbent president

as the winner of the elections.

Electoral system

The President of Mozambique was elected using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

. The 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic were elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

in eleven multi-member constituencies based on the country's

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

and on a

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

basis from two single-member constituencies representing Mozambican citizens in Africa and Europe. Seats in the multi-member constituencies were allocated using the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...

Presidential candidates

On 16 January 2019 the main opposition party

held a congress at which Ossufo Momade was elected as the party's new leader and presidential candidate. Momade had been the party's interim president following the death of

Afonso Dhlakama Afonso Marceta Macacho Dhlakama (1 January 1953 – 3 May 2018) was a Mozambican politician and the leader of RENAMO, an anti-communist guerrilla movement that fought the FRELIMO government in the Mozambican Civil War before signing a peace agr ...

in May 2018 and was seen as a "unifying leader" that could bring the political and military sector of RENAMO closer. The ruling

held its congress on 6 May, at which it confirmed its decision to support the re-election of President Filipe Nyussi for a second and final term. On 9 May and following a three-day congress, the Democratic Movement of Mozambique confirmed that its presidential candidate would be Daviz Simango, mayor of Beira since 2003. Simango was a presidential candidate in the two previous general elections. On 31 July the Constitutional Council approved four candidates; Nyussi, Momade, Simango and Mário Albino. Two candidates were disqualified; Hélder Mendoça and

Alice Mabota Maria Alice MabotaAlso spelled as ''Mavota'' or ''Mahota,'' depending on the transcription. (8 April 1949 – 12 October 2023) was a Mozambican human rights activist and president of the Mozambique Human Rights League. Life Youth Maria Alic ...

. Mabota would have been the first woman to run for president, but failed to collect enough signatures. FRELIMO nominated Mércia Viriato Licá as one of their candidates. She was elected and became the youngest MP in the country's history.

Results

President

Assembly

Provincial elections

References

{{Mozambican elections Presidential elections in Mozambique Parliamentary elections in Mozambique

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...