A section of the crowd at FRELIMO's final campaign rally
General elections were held in Mozambique on 15 October 2014. Filipe Nyusi, the candidate of the ruling FRELIMO, was elected president, and FRELIMO retained its parliamentary majority.
Electoral observers from the European Union stated there were positive aspects: new electoral legislation, a non-disputed voter register and a generally peaceful electoral campaign and an orderly election day, but issues with the tabulation process, and acts of violence and intolerance during the electoral campaign underlined the necessity for important improvements for the future electoral processes.[7]
Electoral observers from the Mozambican Electoral Observatory group concluded that their parallel vote count was broadly in line with the official results. However, the group still termed the elections "partly free and fair, and not very transparent", citing politicization and a lack of transparency of the electoral bodies, voters being turned away and other irregularities.[8]
The leader of RENAMO, Afonso Dhlakama claimed the results of the election were fraudulent and called for a national unity government, threatening to set up a parallel government if FRELIMO did not agree.[9] However, he later abandoned the call.[10] RENAMO also boycotted the swearing in of the provincial parliaments, and have threatened to boycott the swearing in of the Assembly of the Republic on 12 January 2015.[11]
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