By Charles Mangwiro
Mozambique voted for a new president on Wednesday in an election that is expected to extend the ruling party’s 49 years in power, though the opposition was already alleging manipulation of the process.
“I trust the electoral process, but not the people deployed to run the election,” said independent Venancio Mondlane, a newcomer to national politics who was expected to pose the biggest challenge to the ruling party’s candidate, Daniel Chapo.
Mondlane and the two other challengers raised concerns over the fairness of the election process soon after polls opened, claiming among other things that some of their delegates were denied accreditation to monitor voting.
The ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, or Frelimo, has routinely denied allegations that it rigs elections. The leftist former liberation movement has been in power in the southern African country since independence from Portugal in 1975.
Chapo, 47, seeks to succeed President Filipe Nyusi,
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