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Frelimo Candidate Wins Mozambique Elections


A giant Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) billboard hangs from a building in Avenida Edoardo Modlande on the eve of Mozambican Presidential and Legislative elections on October 14, 2014 in Maputo.
A giant Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) billboard hangs from a building in Avenida Edoardo Modlande on the eve of Mozambican Presidential and Legislative elections on October 14, 2014 in Maputo.

Provisional results from Mozambique's elections show the ruling Frelimo party winning both the presidential and parliamentary polls.

The results announced Friday show Frelimo presidential candidate Filipe Nyusi winning 57 percent of the vote. The main opposition Renamo party's Afonso Dhlakama won 36 percent, while the Mozambique Democratic Movement's Daviz Simango was far behind in third place.

The Frelimo party also kept its majority in the 250-seat parliament, although results will not be official until they are ratified by the Constitutional Court.

Renamo called the initial results fraudulent. The party has said Frelimo rigged the election through ballot box stuffing and intimidation of voters.

However, the observer mission of the Southern African Development Community said last week that the elections were "peaceful, transparent, free and fair and credible."

Mozambique's presidential candidates were competing to succeed President Armando Guebuza, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.

The election has been closely watched by investors who see opportunities in recent large discoveries of coal and natural gas.

Frelimo has ruled the southern African country since independence in 1975. Renamo accuses the party of monopolizing political and economic power.

Some information in this report was provided by Reuters.

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