At least 300 members of the opposition MDM party have defected in Nampula Province because of an alleged lack of transparency in selecting candidates for MP.
Senior MDM member Jose Manuel de Sousa has, however, dismissed the move, saying that the defectors were driven by self-promotion rather than political motives. He also accused the ruling Frelimo party of orchestrating the move to undermine the MDM’s ambitions in the general elections.
The most senior defector is Juma Molide, who had been the co-ordinator of the MDM election office and played a pivotal role in the MDM's victory in Nampula Province’s mayoral elections last year. He told Mozambique Politics & Security that he was disappointed to find that he was twenty-third on the list of MDM candidates for Nampula Province which, because of its large population, is the electoral swing province with a total of 49 parliamentary seats being contested.
For Molide to find his way in to parliament, the MDM opposition party would have to win about 50% of the Nampula seats. When asked to react to Molide's grievance, de Sousa said that by insisting on a higher place on the list, Molide was implicitly anticipating that the MDM could not win the general elections.
For more news and expert analysis about Mozambique, please see Mozambique Politics & Security.
© 2014 Menas Associates
No comments:
Post a Comment