Mozambique's Chapo is set to be sworn in as president
Daniel Chapo faces a challenging start as president-elect of Mozambique, with violent protests and opposition threats calling into question the legitimacy of the election results.
The election results in Mozambique have been fiercely contested by the opposition. / Photo: AFP
Mozambique President-elect Daniel Chapo will be sworn into office on Wednesday after weeks of deadly political unrest but the main opposition leader has vowed to "paralyse" the country with fresh protests against the fiercely disputed election result.
Venancio Mondlane had already called for a national strike in the days leading up to the inauguration and threatened to curtail the new government with daily demonstrations on Tuesday.
Mondlane, 50, maintains the October 9 polls were rigged in favour of Chapo's Frelimo party, which has governed the gas-rich African country since independence from Portugal in 1975.
"This regime does not want peace," Mondlane said in an address on Facebook Tuesday, adding his communications team was met with bullets on the streets this week.
"We'll protest every single day. If it means paralysing the country for the entire term, we will paralyse it for the entire term."
Chapo, 48, called for stability on Monday, telling journalists at the national assembly "we can continue to work and together, united... to develop our country".
Guests arrive ahead of Mozambique President-elect Daniel Chapo's inauguration at Independence Square in Maputo on January 15, 2025.
Leaders will be present at the inauguration
The swearing-in ceremony was expected to be snubbed by foreign heads of state, a move "which sends a strong message", Maputo-based political and security risk analyst Johann Smith told AFP.
Former colonial ruler Portugal is sending Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel.
"Even from a regional point of view there is a hesitancy to acknowledge or recognise that Chapo won the election," Smith said, pointing out that neighbouring South Africa's president would also not be attending.
The extent of the unrest from now on "depends on how Chapo will tackle the crisis", analyst Borges Nhamirre told AFP.
The inauguration of parliamentary lawmakers on Monday was held amid relative calm in the capital, Maputo.
The streets were deserted, with most shops closed either in protest against the ceremony or out of fear of violence, while military police surrounded the parliament building and police blocked the main roads.
Still, at least six people were killed in the Inhambane and Zambezia regions north of the capital, according to local civil society group Plataforma Decide.
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