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Vol 55 No 19

Published 26th September 2014


Mozambique

Frelimo turns the screws

As election campaigning intensifies, the ruling party takes full advantage of its control of the state

Violence is rising in the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections on 15 October, as police and judiciary openly express their partiality for the governing Frente de Libertação de Moçambique. State bias towards Frelimo is nothing new but the increase in the detention of opposition campaigners and of violence by government supporters suggests that the party is feeling sufficiently vulnerable to need to tilt the playing field in its favour. Selective application of the law dominates the campaign. Offences ignored when committed by Frelimo are strongly punished for others. The governing party's use of state property and resources and the support civil servants are coerced into providing are features of the campaign. Frelimo is not the only guilty party in campaign violence but it is the main transgressor.

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