The Central Committee of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo party, meeting in extraordinary session in the southern city of Matola, on Sunday night confirmed Daniel Chapo, governor of the southern province of Innhambane, as the party’s candidate for the presidential election scheduled for 9 October.
Chapo enjoyed a fairly easy victory in the first round of voting. According to a report on the independent television station STV, 103 members of the Central Committee voted for Chapo, and only 77 for his nearest rival, the party’s General Secretary, Roque Silva.
Frelimo parliamentarian Francico Mucanheia received 46 votes, while just three Central Committee members voted for the only woman in the race, Esperanca Bias, who is the speaker of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.
A fifth candidate, Damiao Jose, a member of the Frelimo Political Commission and a former spokesperson for the party, dropped out before the vote was taken.
249 members of the Central Committee were present (out of a total of 254 full and 11 supplementary members).
Since nobody received over 50 per cent of the votes, a second round was necessary, between the two candidates with the most votes, Daniel Chapo and Roque Silva.
But Roque Silva suddenly resigned – as general secretary, and as a potential presidential candidate. Chapo was now unopposed, and a debate took place as to whether, under these circumstances, a second round of voting was even necessary.
But the Central Committee decided to follow standard practice and held a second round, in which the Committee members gave overwhelming support to Chapo.
He received 225 votes, which was 94.1 per cent of the Central Committee members present. The final statement from the Committee did not reveal whether the other six per cent were blank votes or spoiled ballots.
After his election, Chapo thanked the Central Committee members for the trust they had placed in him, and promised to honour his mission of winning the October presidential election.
Being the party’s candidate for the Presidency was just another mission entrusted to him, said Chapo. “In Frelimo, we work on the basis of missions”, he declared. “The party trusts its cadres, and this is one more mission like the others I have previously performed”.
The current President of Frelimo, and of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, declared that the election of Chapo as the party’s presidential candidate should end the persistent speculation that he wanted to run for a third, and thus unconstitutional, term of office.
For years now there have been suggestions that Nyusi wanted a third term – although Nyusi himself never publicly declared this intention. The Mozambican Constitution states that nobody can be head of state for more than two consecutive five year terms of office. Thus, if Nyusi really did want another term, his supporters in parliament would have needed to amend the Constitution, and the Frelimo parliamentary group never showed any interest in doing so.
“The soap opera of speculations is over, including the soap opera about a third term of office”, said Nyusi. “There was never any reason for such speculation – Frelimo respects the law”.
Nyusi said that, in Daniel Chapo, Frelimo has chosen a candidate with experience of leadership and who is able to respond to the challenges posed by the country’s current dynamics. Judging by the results of the voting. Chapo is “a candidate of consensus”, he added.
Chapo was chosen, Nyusi said, not because of his origin or ethnicity (he was born in the central province of Sofala), but because of his capacity to lead the destiny of the nation in the coming years.
Nyusi urged all Frelimo members to unite around Chapo in order to ensure victory in the forthcoming presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections.
The 47 year old Chapo is the first Frelimo presidential candidate who was born after independence (in February 1977), and thus took no part in the war to free the country from Portuguese colonial rule.
His experience of governance is at local level. In 2009, he was appointed administrator of Nacala-a-Velha district, in the northern province of Nampula. In 2015, he was transferred to the neighbouring province of Cabo Delgado, where he became administrator of Palma district.
The following year he was appointed governor of Inhambane province. In the 2019 provincial elections, he was elected governor, because he was head of the Frelimo list for members of the provincial assembly.
Professionally, Chapo is a jurist, who obtained a law degree from Maputo’s Eduardo Mondlane University in 2000. He has taught constitutional law and political science, and was briefly a news reader on the Miramar radio station.
Source: Club of Mozambique