Political instability will, it seems, continue to cloud Mozambique’s economic potential. Stability is vital in the north eastern provinces where the main liquid natural gas (LNG) projects are situated. However, the opposition Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) has described the October 15 general elections as a “shameful electoral process”. In a statement issued on October 18, the MDM said “we claim that there has been fraud. These elections were neither fair, free nor transparent”. Renamo, which is reported to still have armed supporters in the north, joined the MDM a day later in rejecting the results of the presidential election, in which Mozambique’s 13.1 million voters gave the incumbent president, Filipe Nyusi, a landslide victory. Their concerns are supported in statements issued by the US Embassy in Mozambique, as well as the European Union. “An unlevel playing field was evident throughout the campaign,” the EU mission said in a statement. “The ruling party dominated the campaign in all provinces and benefited from incumbency, including unjustified use of state resources, and more police escorts and media coverage than opponents.” In its statement issued by Zimbabwean defence and war veterans minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) observer mission congratulates the Mozambican authorities for “conducting successful elections and all Mozambicans for exercising their civic rights in a generally peaceful and orderly manner.” Mozambican business leaders to whom FTW spoke steered away from the politics, which have been in a state of flux since Mozambique obtained independence from Portugal in 1975. They predicted that the election process would continue into the new year before final agreement on the results was reached – and have planned accordingly.