Mozambique's ruling party wins general elections

Mozambique's electoral authorities Thursday announced Filipe Nyusi, the candidate of the ruling Frelimo party, as elected the fourth president in general elections since the country gained independence in 1975.

The annoucement came as the authorities declared the official results of the general elections.

Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the executive body of the National Elections Committee (CNE), said the 55-year-old Nyusi won 57.3 percent of support during the Oct. 15 presidential race, while Afonso Dhlakama, the leader and candidate of the main opposition Renamo, gained 36.61 percent of votes, Xinhua reported.

It said Daviz Simango, the candidate of opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) and mayor of Beira, got 6.36 percent.

The STAE also announced that the ruling Frelimo won the parliamentary and provincial elections as well, with 144 seats in the 250-member Parliament and 485 seats in the provincial assemblies.

Comparing to the current Parliament, Frelimo dropped from 191 seats, while the former rebel movement Renamo increased by 38 seats to 89, and the MDM increased from 8 seats to 17 in third.

As to the provincial assemblies, Renamo gained 295 seats while MDM won 31.

According to law, the country's Constitutional Council, the body in charge of election matters, will afterwards have 45 days to validate the results.

However,the former rebel movement Renamo on Tuesday claimed victory in the general elections, and said it would not accept any results which did not agree with its own count, during the party's regional conference held in Beira.

Nearly 11 million Mozambicans were registered to vote but according to the STAE, only 5.33 million casted their votes in the Oct. 15 elections.