An NGO watching Mozambique’s election last week reports widespread ballot box stuffing in favor of Pretoria Felipe Nyusi.

In some areas the official turnout is recorded at 75% of registered voters with four faiths of them voting for Nyusi.

The Mozambique Political Process Bulletin says results have come from 138 of Mozambique 160 districts.

At least districts have not recorded results because of an illegal ban on elections observers. Results in a dozen districts are incomplete.

Some polling stations  in Frelimo’s stronghold Gaza Province record no queues throughout voting day although large numbers of ballot papers for the ruling Frelimo Party were recorded. 

During counting at some rural voting stations ballot powers were founded folded into each other. 

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President Felipe Nyusi is expected to extend his term in office, but Renamo leader Ossufo Momade looks set to become the first non-Frelimo state governor.

Some opposition parties are crying foul before the early morning voting queues in Mozambique disperse.

They point to the thousands of election observers unable to be accredited and an imbalance in state-funding of parties contesting the poll.

The election, which has been marred by violence during campaigning,  will severely test the fragile peace deal signed only two months ago by Frelimo and Renamo.

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The 43-day campaign has seen seven murders and 37 road accident fatalities.

Fighting for a second term, President Felipe Nyusi wrapped up his campaign on Saturday, expressing confidence that the ruling Frelimo party  would extend its 44 years in power.

Renamo’s Ossufo Momade has given him a run for his money.

The opposition party has joined with five others in a pact against electoral fraud.

Observers hoping to keep an eye on polling are struggling to secure accreditation.

In addition to the 44 deaths there have been 271 injuries and 59 arrests related to the election campaign.

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Residents in village bear where that happened are seeking to leave after 12 people died in two insurgents attacks ahead of elections next month.

The administrative head of Mbau in Cabo Delgado province was among those who fled into the bush to escape attackers.

Ten people died there and the village, including the local Frelimo headquarters, was razed.

The attackers looted market stalls and drove off in a vehicle loaded with stolen goods.

Two young men working in their fields were  killed by attackers in a nearby village.

There have been eight deadly  attacks in Cabo Delgado since the start of the election campaign.

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Mariano Nhongo calls Renamo leader Ossufo Momade a traitor and rejects the peace treaty signed with the Maputo government on August 1.

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Mariano Nhongo claims to be the leader of Renamo and says a peace treaty has to be negotiated with him before any elections can be held in Mozambique.

He says Ossufo Momade, elected as leader by the Renamo party conference in January, is a ploy for the Frelimo government and President Felipe Nyusi.

He says he has 500 men under arms who will not leave their 11 bases and  surrender their arms as stipulated by the peace treaty.

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President Felipe Nyusi and Renamo’s Ossufo Momade inked the deal in Maputo yesterday.

This is the second time Renamo has formalized  a peace deal with Mozambique’s Frelimo Government.

The late Afonso Dhlakama signed the first in Rome 26 years ago after the Vatican mediated an end to the 16-year civil war that brought the country to its knees.

Losing successive elections drove Renamo to take up weapons and go back into the bush.

Yesterday’s peace follows the death last year of Dhlakama.

Guests at yesterday’s signing, including President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame,  heard that Renamo plans to do better in October’s election. 

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The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy, known as EISA found more  registration brigades despatched to FRELIMO strongholds.

EISA had eleven observers – seven of them international and four locals – looking at voter registration at 112 centres in 21 municipalities in seven Mozambican provinces.

The observers found that the increase in registration teams since the previous election in 2014 was greater in Frelimo areas  like Gaza than in was in areas like Nampula which is traditionally identified as supporting  the opposition Renamo party.

EISA found this was the mechanism used to increase voter registration in areas known to have a strong dominance of the ruling party.

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The big question is who will lead the Renamo movement which has both parliamentary and armed wings.

President Filipe Nyusai says he tried to fly Afonso Dlakama for  emergency medical treatment when heard the 65-year-old had suffered a heart attack.

But the Renamo leader has been hiding back in the Gorongoza mountains since 2013 and could not be reached.

The Mozambican president says the last thing Dlakama said to him at their meeting last February is that he would  to miss a step in the peace process.

Renamo fought a 16-year civil war against Frelimo that’s ruled Mozambique since 1975.

That ended in 1992, but Dlakama never gave up his fighters.

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Mozambique’s new president Felipe Nyusi’s pledged to open constructive dialogue with all political forces and civil society organisations to promote peace in his country ravaged by civil war

His inauguration was boycotted by the former rebel group Renamo that refused to acknowledge his victory in elections two months ago

Felipe Nyusi is Mozambique’s former defence minister and the country’s first president not to have fought in the liberation war against Portugal.

An engineer by profession he holds no top position in Frelimo that’s ruled the country since 1974.

Nyusi took 57% of the vote in the election compared with the 37% won by Renamo leader Afonso Dlakama.

He says he represents a new generation that inherits huge success and exciting challenges.

Nyusi hits the ground running with vast tracts of the country submerged by heavy flooding and the South African military helping in rescue operations.

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As Jean-Jacques Cornish reports, there has been a change in the political landscape.

Voting on November 29, Namibians are expected to return SWAPO to power for a further five years.

This month’s elections to the east and west of South Africa saw Frelimo prevail in Mozambique and the Botswana Congress party hold off a resurgent opposition.

Mozambique has a new president, Felipe Nyusi. He and Frelimo won more than 60% of the popular vote. Former rebel movement Renamo retained the official opposition.

Botswana’s president Ian Khama won a second term. His Botswana Democratic Party has won at least 34 of the 57 parliamentary seats.

The Umbrella for Democratic Change has palmed 14 seats,

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