Mozambique: Daniel Chapo is Frelimo’s candidate in October’s presidential elections – Africa

The candidate of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) for President of the Republic in October’s general elections, Daniel Chapo, stated this Sunday that this candidacy is “another mission”, promising to work “with everyone”.

“We will work based on Frelimo’s program for victory on October 9th (…) This is another mission, like so many others that have already been carried out”, said Daniel Chapo, speaking to journalists shortly after the conclusion of the extraordinary session of the party’s Central Committee, which approved him as a candidate to succeed Filipe Nyusi.

The Central Committee of Frelimo, a party in power since 1975, today chose to support Daniel Francisco Chapo, governor of the province of Inhambane, as a candidate for President of the Republic in the general elections on October 9th.

“We are going to work with all social strata (…) We are talking about young people, women, men, combatants, including my friends here, from the media, who do excellent work for the development of our country and we will continue to work together”, he also said, thanking the “trust placed” by the members of the Central Committee, who “represent six million activists”.

The choice of Daniel Chapo by the Central Committee, which has 254 members, came only on the third day of the extraordinary meeting of that body, initially called only for Friday, having gathered 225 votes (94.1%) of the members of that body.

This vote was reached after Frelimo’s general secretary, Roque Silva, who had been the second most voted in the first round, removed his name from the voting list, even resigning from his role in the party.

Daniel Chapo, 47 years old, will be the candidate to succeed Filipe Nyusi, President of the Republic since 2014, who is also president of Frelimo, and who can no longer run for office in these elections, as he has reached the constitutional limit of two terms.

Graduated in Law from the Faculty of Law of Eduardo Mondlane University, in Maputo, in 2000, Daniel Francisco Chapo was born in Inhaminga, Sofala province, central Mozambique, on January 6, 1977, making him the first Frelimo candidate born after the country’s independence (1975).

The political commission approved on Friday a list of pre-candidates with the names of Roque Silva, general secretary of the party, Daniel Chapo and Damião José, this member of that body, which took place on the same day to the extraordinary meeting of the Central Committee that began shortly afterwards at the party school, in Matola, on the outskirts of Maputo.

After two days of intense internal debate in the Central Committee, around the proposed list, the political committee added today the names of Esperança Bias, president of parliament, and Francisco Mucanheia, advisor to the President of the Republic, while Damião José ended up leaving of the race, according to party sources.

According to Frelimo’s statutes, the political commission is responsible for presenting to the members of the Central Committee the list of three names of pre-candidates for the position of President of the Republic.

Daniel Francisco Chapo took the Conservator and Notary course in 2004 and ten years later completed a master’s degree in Development Management from the Catholic University of Mozambique. He also taught Constitutional Law and Political Science, worked as an announcer at Rádio Miramar, in the city of Beira, and was appointed conservator for the Nacala-Porto district in 2005.

In November 2015 he assumed the role of administrator of the district of Palma, in the province of Cabo Delegado, and in March 2016 he was appointed governor of the province of Inhambane.

Since Mozambique’s independence, all heads of state have been nominated by Frelimo, such as Samora Machel and Joaquim Chissano (south) and Armando Guebuza and Filipe Nyusi (north), so Daniel Chapo is the first, nominated, born in the central region of Mozambique. country.

The deadline for presenting the lists of candidates for President of the Republic in the October elections to the Constitutional Council is June 10th.

Mozambique will hold its seventh presidential and legislative elections on October 9, the second for provincial governors and the fourth for provincial assemblies.