RENAMO Rocked By In-Fighting

Only weeks before the local elections scheduled for 19 November, the main opposition party, Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Renamo), is in disarray in its Beira stronghold. The party is seeking to remove the mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, for running as an independent candidate after he was expelled from the party, despite the Minister of State Administration having rejected this petition. In the short term, the split in the party will compromise its ability to contend in the upcoming election. The bigger picture risk is the disintegrations of the coalition - RENAMO-União Electoral - that won 90 seats (out of 250) in 2004 and the ability of the opposition parties to mount a robust challenge to the ruling Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo).

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