Bloomberg
Mozambique president Filipe Nyusi won a second term by a landslide in the natural-gas-rich nation’s October 15 elections that the main opposition rejected as a “mega fraud.â€
Nyusi won 73% of the vote, compared with rival Ossufo Momade’s 22%, the electoral commission announced in the capital Maputo.
His party also won all 10 gubernatorial ballots and more than 70% of seats in the National Assembly in its best performance since 2009, when Nyusi’s predecessor, Armando Guebuza, won a second term with 75% of the vote.
The outcome puts Nyusi and his Frelimo party firmly in control of an economy that’s preparing to receive more than $50 billion in investments in natural-gas-export projects that companies including Total and ExxonMobil plan over the next five years. His immediate priorities will be trying to contain an IS-linked insurgency in the area of the gas projects, while trying to jump-start economic growth that’s this year set to be the lowest in almost two decades.
Also at stake is a potentially fragile peace deal Nyusi signed with Momade in August.