Venâncio Mondlane Returns to Mozambique, Declaring Himself President

After a self-imposed exile, Venâncio Mondlane was welcomed home by delirious crowds supporting his claim that the country’s last election was stolen from him by corrupt elites.

He stepped off a gray jumbo jet to the excited but subdued applause of a few airport employees in neon vests. At least one fellow passenger giddily approached him for a selfie.

Nearly three months after fleeing Mozambique, saying he feared for his life, opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane made a grand return on Thursday to try to claim what he insists is rightfully his: the presidency.

Mozambique is scheduled to inaugurate a new president from the long-governing Frelimo party on Wednesday. Daniel Chapo of Frelimo won with 65 percent of the vote in the October election, according to the nation’s highest court. By the official tally, Mr. Mondlane got just 24 percent.

After several independent election observers identified irregularities in the vote, Mr. Mondlane spent months arguing the race was stolen, calling on his supporters to take to the streets. Some protests have descended into violence, with at least 250 people killed during a police response that human rights groups have called unnecessarily brutal.

Mr. Mondlane’s return comes at a delicate moment for this mineral- and gas-rich nation of 33 million. The government is struggling to address housing and debt crises, and to quell a yearslong insurgency backed by the Islamic State. Regional leaders like South Africa have sent envoys to try to broker a resolution to a political deadlock that has stymied trade and threatens further economic damage.

Yet the outspoken opposition candidate has refused to back down. “I, Venâncio Mondlane, elected president by the Mozambican people,” he said, raising his right hand before a gaggle of news cameras outside of the airport in the capital, Maputo, “swear on my honor to serve Mozambique and Mozambicans.”

About a quarter mile away, thousands of his supporters crowded police barricades, shouting, “The president has arrived! The president has arrived!” beneath a steady drizzle. The police kept the crowd at bay using tear gas.

Filipe Nyusi, the current president, gathered the leaders of the main opposition parties for a meeting on Thursday to discuss solutions — an exercise that some say lacked credibility because Mr. Mondlane was not there. Following the meeting, Mr. Chapo said the parties had agreed to look at making changes to election law and to the constitution “to accommodate the interests of Mozambicans.”

The 50-year-old Mr. Mondlane might appear to some as an election denier and populist troublemaker. But to his supporters, he is a singular figure at a singular moment. Voters across southern Africa, led by a restless young population, have over the past year sharply rebuked former liberation parties at the polls.

Corruption, unemployment, inequality and poor living conditions have sparked widespread anger in Mozambique and around the region at political leaders viewed as out of touch. Mr. Mondlane has seized that wave of discontent to offer a simple message: He would give the country back to the people.

As celebratory crowds swarmed Mr. Mondlane’s motorcade in Maputo on Thursday, witnesses say the police, with little provocation, responded with tear gas and bullets, leaving at least one man dead on the sidewalk with blood gushing from his head. A police spokesman declined to comment on any fatalities, saying they were still gathering information.

“What the people in Mozambique don’t want is Frelimo,” said Francisco Victor Chimene, a 25-year-old driver, standing next to an open-air market where Mr. Mondlane earlier had addressed throngs of his supporters. “What we want is change. We see that Venâncio will change this country.”

Educated in agronomy, Mr. Mondlane has a diverse résumé. He’s worked as a banker, a Pentecostal pastor and a television pundit. His political breakout came in 2013 when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Maputo. He lost the mayoral race again two years ago, but the result was heavily disputed with civil society organizations claiming that there was massive fraud. A court ordered a recount in a major district because of irregularities.

After losing a leadership battle in what was Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, Mr. Mondlane ran for president last year with the support of a smaller party, Podemos. His meteoric rise as a candidate drew global attention, winning him support among right-wing populist figures abroad, even as young, leftist voters rallied behind him at home.

In a video posted to social media during the campaign last year, Mr. Mondlane thanked Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president accused of plotting a coup, and called him “a man of God.”

Mr. Mondlane sees Mr. Bolsonaro “as a pioneering man,” said Jonatas Feitosa, the pastor of a conservative evangelical church in Brazil and friend of Mr. Mondlane. Mr. Bolsonaro styled himself as the antidote to a leftist party that had dominated Brazilian politics for more than a decade.

Frelimo, which has its roots in communism, has governed Mozambique since the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975. But the party has since lost the trust of many Mozambicans because of widespread corruption. The government’s violent response to demonstrations after the election was viewed by many as an indication of Frelimo’s desperate attempt to hold onto power.

During his presidential campaign, Mr. Mondlane traveled to Portugal, where he met with André Ventura, the president of Chega, the far-right nationalist party that supports stricter immigration measures and has fought against restitutions for former colonies. But Chega has also fashioned itself as a champion of the working class, like Mr. Mondlane.

Mr. Ventura said in an email that his party was hoping to build a common political platform with Mr. Mondlane that focused on “combating corruption and crime, defending family and order, and addressing the collapse of justice and other institutions.”

Mr. Mondlane has not publicly addressed his ties with right-wing figures abroad. But in a country where most voters struggle to find their next meal or a stable home to live in, those ties are of little importance, said Benjamin Francisco Malate, a 38-year-old businessman.

“The reason we are supporting Venâncio is not because he is from the left or the right,” Mr. Malate said. “We’re just supporting the solutions that he presents.”

Some of his proposals include policies that would require significant state intervention, like building three million homes in five years and financing businesses for youth and women.

As he stood on top of a car surrounded by a packed crowd of thousands in Maputo on Thursday, Mr. Mondlane said that if the government went ahead with next Wednesday’s inauguration, the country would have two presidents. “Who runs this country?” Mr. Mondlane shouted into a loudspeaker.

“It is the people,” the crowd replied.

Ana Ionova contributed reporting from Rio de Janeiro and Tiago Carrasco from Lisbon.