Mozambique’s ruling party meets to pick next leader

Members of Mozambique’s ruling party gathered Thursday to pick a new leader, likely the country’s next president, amid signs incumbent Armando Guebuza may struggle to impose his candidate of choice.

FRELIMO members began four days of deliberations outside the capital Maputo, as an internal rebellion over Guebuza’s three “pre-selected” candidates bubbled to the surface.

Guebuza, 71, has led Mozambique since 2005, but he will step down at elections later this year, having served his maximum two terms in office.

Frelimo — a formerly Marxist-Leninist but now avowedly capitalist party — has won every election since Mozambique’s civil war ended 21 years ago, and is expected to do so again in October.

Guebuza is set to continue as head of the party and had hoped to install Prime Minister Alberto Vaquina, Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco or Defence Minister Filipe Nyussi as his successor as president.
FRELIMO officials announced late last year the party would only consider the three Guebuza loyalists as possible presidential candidates.

But in opening remarks Thursday he said other candidates would also be considered after fierce campaigning by a powerful faction loyal to previous president Joaquim Chissano.

“The pre-candidates will be enlarged when we come to analysing proposals for candidacies and those candidates presented will also be included in this group,” he said.

Some 60 senior Frelimo members applied to have former prime minister Luisa Diogo’s name formally included on the list of candidates, according to independent Mozambican daily O Pais.

Around 33 percent of Mozambicans would vote for the Barclay’s Mozambique executive, according to a recent Nova Global Research poll, making the prime minister Guebuza sacked the most popular candidate polled.

Former Frelimo secretary general, Manuel Tome, former finance minister and SADC chief Thomas Salomao, former Maputo mayor Eneas Comiche and another ex-prime minister, Aires Ali, have all been mentioned as possible nominees.