(Bloomberg) -- Mozambique faces a fresh flash point over Oct. 9 elections after opposition presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane called for mass attendance at the funeral of his lawyer, who was murdered at the weekend.
Mondlane urged his supporters to arrive “en masse” to Elvino Dias’s funeral planned for Wednesday in Maputo, the capital.
The gas-rich African nation is already on edge after Mondlane, who provisional results show is coming second in the elections, called for a national stay-away on Monday to protest against the murder and what he said are rigged elections.
Earlier, the police fired tear gas at dozens of protesters that had gathered at the scene where Dias was gunned down by unknown killers. The demonstrators, who shouted “This country is ours! Save Mozambique!” fled as a helicopter circled above them, according to a live stream from the Centro Para Democracia e Direitos Humanos, a local human-rights group.
Police later fired teargas to disperse reporters interviewing Mondlane. A livestream from his Facebook account showed him talking to journalists in a street in Maputo, the capital, before teargas sent them scrambling.
Mozambique’s dollar bonds due in 2031 fell by the most since May — and the most across emerging markets on the day — dropping as much as 1.15 cent on the dollar to 86.7 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Mondlane and the Podemos party, which backs him have decried the electoral process as fraudulent. Numerous observers have also questioned the credibility of the vote count, with those from the European Union citing evidence of potential ballot-box stuffing.
“The 2024 elections could be even less credible than Mozambique’s widely criticized 2023 local elections,” said Anne Frühauf, managing director at risk adviser Teneo. “This could spell a fresh low for Mozambique’s relations with external partners.”
Police last week broke up an opposition rally in the northern city of Nampula using live bullets, according to Amnesty International, which called it a gross violation of both Mozambican and international human-rights law.
Provisional tallies from the provinces showed the Mozambique Liberation Front was on course to extend its 49-year rule, with more than two-thirds of the vote, and its candidate Daniel Chapo was likely to win the presidency.
--With assistance from Benjamin Harvey, Alister Bull and Ana Monteiro.
(Recasts first paragraph with funeral gathering.)
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