Background
The last 25 years in Mozambique have encapsulated the political developments of the entire 20th century. Portuguese colonialism collapsed in 1974 after a decade of armed struggle, initially led by American-educated Eduardo Mondlane, who was assassinated in 1969. When independence was proclaimed in 1975, the leaders of FRELIMO's military campaign rapidly established a one-party state allied to the Soviet bloc, eliminating political pluralism, religious educational institutions, and the role of traditional authorities.
Mozambique held its first democratic elections in 1994. The country has held four democratic elections.
Mozambique elects on national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The Assembly of the Republic has 250 members, elected for a five-year term by proportional representation. Mozambique has a two-party system, which means that there are two dominant political parties, with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party.

Factsheet
Date of Election: - 28th October, 2009
Presidential Election Results: - FRELIMO (Armando Guebuza) 74.98%
RENAMO (Afonso Dhlakama) 16.4%
Type of Election: - Presidential and Parliamentary

Political Parties: -
Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frente de
Libertacao de Mocambique, FRELIMO)
Mozambican National Resistance (Resistencia
Nacional Mocambicana, RENAMO)
Democratic Movement of Mozambique,
Movimento Democratico de Mocambique,
MDM)

Elections Management Body: - The National Electoral Commission/Comissão Nacional de Eleições (CNE) www.stae.org.mz

Elections info
3 Presidential candidates,
250 seats in parliament
9.8m registered voters

Key election website
www.cip.org.mz
www.pdd.org.mz
www.renamo.org.mz
www.frrelimo.org.mz
www.mozambique.mz