The withering full report of the EU observer mission finds fraud at almost every stage the process that return President Felipe Nyusi and his Frelimo Party to power.

Back in October, the interim report of the European Union observer mission found Mozambique’s elections were held in unfair conditions, using unjustifiable state resources by the incumbents campaigns and marred by widespread violence.

These conclusions were at odds with African observers who gave the process  a thumbs up.

The EU report, which ridicules the electoral commission, will threaten the shaky peace between Frelimo and its traditional opponent Renamo stitched together before the election.

The result has been legally challenged. 

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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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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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The United States and Britain have officially voiced misgivings about alleged irregularities in the counting of votes from Mozambique’s presidential and legislative polls.

The European Union observation mission to Mozambique notes the faulty handling of final result sheets and lengthy tabulation procedures among the many difficulties and adversities being encountered.

The legal deadlines  for the announcement of district and provincial results are mostly unfulfilled.

International and domestic observers had praised Mozambique’s election day as generally peaceful and orderly, despite several incidents of violence.

Provisional tallies by the national electoral commission show the ruling Frelimo party ahead with around 60 percent of the votes.

Former rebel group turned opposition Renamo is in second place with around 32 percent, while the breakaway Mozambique Democratic Movement is trailing with eight percent.

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The SADC observers to the Mozambique elections say the process was generally peaceful, transparent, free, fair and credible.
Renamo, is expected to win 60% of the vote putting former defence minister  Felipe Nyusi in the driver’s seat.
The  Frelimo majority’s been eroded by the breakaway Mozambique Democratic Movement.
Former rebel movement Renamo’s spokesman Antonio Muchanga says there’s the possibility of widespread electoral fraud – opening the way to resurgence of guerrilla activity undermining the country’s tourism sector and other areas of the economy as it did for two years before signing an agreement in August  to return to the legitimate political fold.

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But the exercise has got the thumbs up from the regional observer mission.

Frelimo’s Filipe Nyusi, the former defence minister, looks set to hold off the former rebel group Renamo led by Afonso Dhlakama, and Daviz Simango, founder of the Mozambique Democratic Party.
South Africa’s foreign affairs chief , Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who led an observer mission from the Southern African Development Community    declared Mozambicans voted for peace, in a very peaceful, calm and efficient manner.

Opposition parties report cases of ballot stuffing in Sofala and Nampula provinces by Frelimo seeking to extend its 40 year rule of South Africa’s eastern neighbour.

European observers investigating this were denied access to at least one polling station

Counting has started but final results are no expected for a fortnight.

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