Good afternoon. Opposition politician Venâncio Mondlane yesterday confirmed that he was splitting up with the Podemos party, which had supported his campaign in last year’s presidential elections. But it has to be asked whether Mondlane and Podemos, and in particular Podemos leader Albino Forquilha, were ever really allies.
Mondlane, who styles himself the “president of the people”, has been consistent in rejecting the official election results as fraudulent and insisting that he was the rightful winner of the presidential election. Not only that, but he also maintains that it was Podemos, and not ruling party Frelimo, which won a majority in the 250-seat parliament, instead of the 43 seats the official results eventually gave them.
But Forquilha has not shown much interest in those extra seats. In late October, shortly after the National Elections Commission announced preliminary results, he gave an interview to broadcaster STV where he implied that he expected to be an opposition party leader, and not at all that he thought Podemos had won the parliamentary election. Already, he and Mondlane were saying different things.
The full Daily Briefing continues below for Pro subscribers. Subscribers to the Zitamar News tier can read the top half, including the full leader article, here.
From the Zitamar Live Blog:
Around the same time, Forquilha appeared on TV with police commander Bernardino Rafael. Mondlane had already instigated a wave of anti-government protests in the wake of the killings of his legal adviser Elvino Dias and Podemos representative Paulo Guambe, killings in which the security forces were and are suspected of involvement. The police had been responding to the protests with live ammunition and tear gas. However, Forquilha did not mind making a public appearance with Rafael or indeed giving him a hug in front of cameras.
