MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Mozambique's main opposition leader returned from self-imposed exile on Thursday, clutching a bible and saying he still rejects the results of a disputed election last year that sparked more than two months of protests against the long-ruling party and a violent crackdown by security forces.
While Venancio Mondlane stepped off a plane, security forces fired tear gas at hundreds of his supporters who gathered near the Mavalane International Airport in the capital, Maputo, to welcome him home. Mondlane arrived to applause from airport workers and then kneeled in the arrivals hall with a bible in his left hand.
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Mozambique's Special forces members deployed to guard opposition leader Venancio Mondlane as he addresses his supporters on the street in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
Mozambique's Defence Forces members watch the crowd on the street during the arrival of opposition leader Venancio Mondlane in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
Mozambique's opposition leader Venancio Mondlane addresses supporters from the top of a vehicle on the street in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
Mozambique's opposition leader Venancio Mondlane speaks to journalist upon his arrival, at the Mavalane International Airport in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
Mozambique's opposition leader Venancio Mondlane arrives at the Mavalane International Airport in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
FILE - Independent candidate Venancio Mondlane holds up his finger after casting his vote in general elections in Maputo, Mozambique, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Equeio, File)
“I want to fight within this country and I will, until the very end, keep fighting for this country,” Mondlane told reporters at the airport. “I’m not willing to accept election results if they are the same as those announced up until now.”
He left the country in October following an election clouded by allegations of rigging against the ruling Frelimo party, which has been in power since Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
Protests erupted after Frelimo was declared the winner of the Oct. 9 election. International rights groups say more than 100 people have been killed by security forces. Some local groups put the death toll at more than 200. Mondlane had called for people to protest the results.
Mondlane, 50, has said he left Mozambique fearing for his life after two senior members of his opposition party were killed in their car by unknown gunmen in a late-night shooting in Maputo after the election. One of the men who was killed was Mondlane's lawyer and advisor and their party called the killings political assassinations.
Police on Thursday also blocked roads leading to the airport after Mondlane said on social media earlier this week he would return to the southern African country. Tear gas drifted over the airport and surrounding roads and a helicopter hovered overhead. After arriving, Mondlane traveled by car to a public square in central Maputo, with thousands of cheering supporters filling the roads and following him.
Mondlane later stood on the roof of the car to address supporters and repeated his claim that he was the rightful winner of the election.
Rights groups have accused the security forces of using excessive force against post-election protesters. Authorities have said the protests were violent and needed to be subdued, but rights groups say security forces have fired live bullets at peaceful protesters, and children were among those who were killed.
Mondlane, who wore a necklace of white flowers around his neck, accused authorities of kidnapping and killing some anti-government protesters. But he also said he was willing to enter into negotiations with Frelimo to end months of unrest, which has disrupted the country of 33 million and at times brought it to a standstill. Mozambique has also been battling a violent insurgency by jihadists in the north since 2017.
“I’m here in flesh and blood to say that if you want to negotiate, if you want to talk to me, if you want to come to the conversation table, I’m here,” Mondlane said.
Mondlane and other opposition candidates accused Frelimo of rigging the election and international observers reported irregularities in the vote and the alteration of some results. Mozambique’s Constitutional Council upheld Frelimo’s victory last month, making its candidate, Daniel Chapo, the president-elect. He is due to be inaugurated next week to succeed President Filipe Nyusi, who has served the maximum two terms.
Mondlane was second in the official results.
Chapo said Thursday that he was committed to bringing about reforms to address discontent at poverty and unemployment. Frelimo was also open to talks with the opposition, Chapo said.
The post-election unrest has spilled over to neighboring countries, with reports of thousands of Mozambicans fleeing to Malawi. South Africa closed its border with Mozambique for several days last year after vehicles were set on fire near the crossing.
The Southern African Development Community, a regional body, has said it will send a delegation to Mozambique in an attempt to find a solution to end the turmoil.
Frelimo, a leftist party that was once a guerilla movement that liberated Mozambique from colonialism, has often been accused of rigging elections since the nation's first democratic vote in 1994. That election followed a bloody 15-year civil war Frelimo fought after independence against rebel group Renamo, which is now an opposition party that Mondlane once belonged to before breaking away.
The street protests that have taken over several major cities since October have been the biggest threat to Frelimo's rule since the 1977-1992 civil war.
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Mozambique's Special forces members deployed to guard opposition leader Venancio Mondlane as he addresses his supporters on the street in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
Mozambique's Defence Forces members watch the crowd on the street during the arrival of opposition leader Venancio Mondlane in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
Mozambique's opposition leader Venancio Mondlane addresses supporters from the top of a vehicle on the street in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
Mozambique's opposition leader Venancio Mondlane speaks to journalist upon his arrival, at the Mavalane International Airport in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
Mozambique's opposition leader Venancio Mondlane arrives at the Mavalane International Airport in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
FILE - Independent candidate Venancio Mondlane holds up his finger after casting his vote in general elections in Maputo, Mozambique, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Equeio, File)
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.
The session was the legislature’s 13th attempt to elect a successor to former President Michel Aoun — no relation to the army commander — whose term ended in October 2022.
The vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking international assistance for reconstruction.
Aoun was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose assistance Lebanon will need to ensure that Israel withdraws its forces from southern Lebanon as stipulated in the agreement and to fund the post-war rebuilding.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s parliament convened Thursday to make yet another effort to elect a president, filling a vacuum that's lasted for more than two years.
A first round of voting showed Lebanese army commander Joseph Aoun as the frontrunner, receiving 71 out of 128 votes but falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to win outright. Of the rest, 37 lawmakers cast blank ballots and 14 voted for “sovereignty and the constitution."
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned the session for two hours, after which legislators are set to return for another round of voting.
While 12 previous attempts have failed to choose a successor to former President Michel Aoun, whose term ended in October 2022, there are indications that Thursday's vote is likely to produce a head of state.
Aoun, no relation to the former president, is widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose assistance Lebanon will need as it seeks to rebuild after a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah — which has been weakened politically and militarily by the war with Israel — previously backed another candidate, Suleiman Frangieh, the leader of a small Christian party in northern Lebanon with close ties to former Syrian President Bashar Assad.
However, on Wednesday, Frangieh announced he had withdrawn from the race and endorsed Aoun, apparently clearing the way for the army chief. Also Wednesday, the Lebanese Forces, which leads the main parliamentary bloc opposed to Hezbollah, endorsed Aoun.
All 128 members of the legislature were present for the vote Thursday.
Lebanon’s fractious sectarian power-sharing system is prone to deadlock, both for political and procedural reasons. The small, crisis-battered Mediterranean country has been through several extended presidential vacancies, with the longest lasting nearly 2 1/2 years between May 2014 and October 2016. It ended when former President Michel Aoun was elected.
The president's role in Lebanon is limited under the power-sharing system in which the president is always a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament Shiite.
However, only the president has the power to appoint or remove a prime minister and cabinet. The caretaker government that has run Lebanon for the last two years has reduced powers because it was not appointed by a sitting president.
If elected, Joseph Aoun would become the fifth former army commander to ascend to Lebanon’s presidency, despite the fact that the country's constitution prohibits high-ranking public servants, including army commanders, from assuming the presidency during their term or within two years of stepping down.
Although the ban has been waived before, it means that Aoun faces additional procedural hurdles.
Under normal circumstances, a presidential candidate in Lebanon can be elected by a two-thirds majority of the 128-member house in the first round of voting, or by a simple majority in a subsequent round.
But because of the constitutional issues surrounding his election, Aoun would need a two-thirds majority even in the second round.
Other contenders included Jihad Azour, a former finance minister who is now the director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund; and Elias al-Baysari, the acting head of Lebanon’s General Security agency. Al-Baisary announced Thursday that he was pulling out of the race.
The next government will face daunting challenges apart from implementing the ceasefire agreement that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war and seeking funds for reconstruction.
Lebanon is six years into an economic and financial crisis that decimated the country's currency and wiped out the savings of many Lebanese. The cash-strapped state electricity company provides only a few hours of power a day.
The country's leaders reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF for a bail-out package in 2022 but have made limited progress on reforms required to clinch the deal.
A Lebanese lawmaker casts his vote to elect a new president, at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc members attend a parliamentary session to elect a new president, at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, casts his vote to elect a new president, at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Lebanese Parliament media office via AP)
Lebanese lawmakers count the votes after casting their ballots to elect a new president, at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese army soldiers block a road that leads to the parliament building while lawmakers gather to elect a president in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanese army soldiers block a road that leads to the parliament building while lawmakers gather to elect a president in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanese army soldiers stand guard in front of the parliament building before a session to elect a new Lebanese president in down town Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri opens the session to elect a new president at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Lebanese army soldier with a sniffer dog checks a road that leads to the parliament building while lawmakers gather to elect a president in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanese troops stand guard in front of the parliament building before a session to elect a new Lebanese president in down town Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese army soldiers block a road that leads to the parliament building while lawmakers gather to elect a president in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanese lawmakers gather to elect a new president at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese lawmakers gather to elect a new president at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
FILE - Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun arrives for a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - In this photo released by the Lebanese Parliament media office, Lebanese lawmakers attending a parliament session, in Beirut, Lebanon, April 18, 2023. (Hassan Ibrahim/Lebanese Parliament media office via AP, File)
