By Guisela Pereira
On October 9, 2024, Mozambique held presidential, parliamentary, and provincial elections. Several groups in the country, poll observers from the European Union, and candidates from opposition parties pointed to irregularities during the vote. The crisis was compounded by the assassination of two leaders of the runner-up party. Thus, even before the election results were announced, numerous protests and strikes began to erupt due to several allegations of fraud and irregularities.
Daniel Francisco Chapo of the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) was proclaimed winner of the presidential contest, succeeding Filipe Nyusi and extending Frelimo’s nearly five decades in power with roughly 65% of the vote, despite widespread allegations of irregularities, lack of transparency and subsequent protests led by opposition supporters. Upon confirming the election results on December 23, 2024, the president of the Council, Ms Lúcia Ribeiro, admitted there were irregularities in the electoral process, but affirmed that they “did not substantially influence the results of the elections” at the national and provincial levels. In the days following the election, the population in the capital Maputo stayed home and public transport was suspended due to the unrest. By mid-January, the demonstrations and confrontations with the police had left over 300 dead and over 600 injured.
In the parliamentary elections, Frelimo likewise secured a comfortable majority in the 250-seat Assembly of the Republic, winning around 171 seats, while the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (PODEMOS) emerged as the second-largest party with about 43 seats, followed by RENAMO with roughly 28 seats and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) with around eight seats. Women’s representation in the new parliament remained significant but below parity, with women holding approximately 39% of seats. Party lists reflected voluntary gender quotas, though no women contested the presidential race.
In the aftermath of the elections, Mozambique will have women in the roles of Prime Minister and President of the National Assembly for the second and third time (respectively) in its history. However, the lack of female presidential candidates, the reversal of previously achieved parity in cabinet, and persistent challenges such as underrepresentation in candidate lists and in subnational government, GBV and illiteracy suggest there is still a convoluted road to gender equity.
Women’s Political Representation and Participation
The Constitutional Council of Mozambique, a body charged with approving candidates to run in the election, received 11 candidacies for the 2024 Presidential Ballot. Of those, 7 were rejected for presenting irregularities in several of the minimum 10,000 signatures required to be recognized as an official presidential candidate. Among those rejected was the only woman to postulate her candidacy, Dorinda Catarina Eduardo, of the National Movement for the Recovery of Mozambican Unity (MONARUMO). If successful, Eduardo would have been the first woman to become a presidential candidate in Mozambique. A first attempt at the feat had been made by the late human rights activist Alice Mabota in 2019, but her candidacy was also rejected due to alleged irregularities with the mandatory signatures.
On the subnational level, FRELIMO and MDM each had three female candidates for the role of provincial governor, while RENAMO had two.
Of the 250 parliament members elected in 2024, 98 (39.2%) of them were women. The number represents a slight decline in relation to the previous legislature, when women held 43.2% of parliament seats. This ratio has remained stable between 39.2% and 43.2% since 2009.
At the provincial executive level, 3 of Mozambique’s 10 provinces are governed by women, maintaining the same proportion as in the previous mandate and indicating little progress toward parity in territorial governance. They are: Margarida Chongo, Governor of Gaza Province; Francisca Tomás, Governor of Manica Province; and Elina Judite, Governor of Niassa Province.
Women also continue to hold prominent positions within the legislature. On January 13, 2025, Margarida Adamugy Talapa (FRELIMO) was elected the new President of the Assembly of the Republic. She won by a landslide majority of 169 votes from her peers, while the runner-up received 32 votes. Talapa had previously been Minister of Labour and Social Security (2020-2025), as well as leader of FRELIMO in Parliament. She is the third woman to lead Parliament in Mozambique, following Verónica Macamo (2010-2020) and Esperança Bias (2020-2025).
Despite these gains, women’s representation in the executive branch has declined markedly. As of 31 January 2025, women headed five of the country’s 18 ministries - Finance; Education and Culture; Labour, Gender and Social Action; Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; and Combatants. These women are:
- Carla Alexandra Louveira, Minister of Finance
- Samaria dos Anjos Filemon Tovela, Minister of Education and Culture
- Ivete Ferrao Alane, Minister of Labour, Gender and Social Action
- Maria Dos Santos Lucas, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
- Nyeleti Brooke Mondlane Endereço, Minister of Combatants
This constitutes a significant reduction compared to the previous administration, in which 10 of 20 cabinet ministers were women, placing Mozambique among the 15 countries globally with at least 50% women ministers.”
President Chapo appointed Maria Benvinda Delfina Levi (FRELIMO) as Prime Minister on January 17th. Delfina Levi had previously been a judge in Maputo, as well as Minister of Justice (2008-2015). In the previous government, she served as an advisor to President Filipe Nyusi. She is the second woman to hold the position of Prime Minister. The first was Luisa Diogo, who held office between 2004 and 2010.
Legislative, policy, and other reforms on women’s rights
Mozambique does not have mandatory gender quotas for election candidates. However, some political parties have adopted voluntary quotas. The most robust policy has been employed by FRELIMO, which uses gender quotas since 1994, in Mozambique’s first multiparty elections. FRELIMO’S policy establishes that at least 40% of candidates to the national legislative and local government should be women. The party also has a commitment to balance the distribution of men and women at 50% in parliamentary, provincial and municipal candidate lists. This system is known as a “zebra” approach, where the party alternates male and female candidates on the list. However, gender equity policies are not adopted by all Mozambican parties, as there have been cases of parties with no female candidates.
Relevant legislation in Mozambique includes the Family Code (Law No. 10/2004), which prohibits various forms of discrimination against women, and the law on Domestic Violence Against Women (Law No. 29/2009), which defines and prohibits acts of domestic violence, including sexual and moral violence. While the former empowers women to claim more equitable representation within party lists, the latter is key in addressing one of the obstacles to women’s political participation in Mozambique – gender-based violence.
Complementing this framework is the Law on Domestic Violence Against Women (Law No. 29/2009), which defines and criminalizes physical, sexual, moral, and patrimonial violence. This legislation is particularly relevant in the context of women’s political participation, as gender-based violence (GBV), including intimidation, harassment, and threats, remains a significant barrier to women seeking or holding public office in Mozambique. In 2023, Mozambique launched a digital platform to gather data on GBV. The platform is managed by the police and aims to reduce response times for incidents, as well as provide more accurate information to guide the development of policies and future investments. Importantly, the initiative allows for improved coordination between the health, justice and social elements of the response to cases of GBV. Similarly, a toll-free SMS hotline was created to allow children to report cases of violence. The message reaches trained counsellors, who contact the child to assess the case and provide guidance on how to handle the situation. Both innovations were supported by Spotlight Initiative, a fund linked to the Sustainable Development Goals with a focus on fighting different forms of violence, including GBV. The initiative has also supported the training of 596 government employees on topics such as gender mainstreaming, as well as the creation of units specializing on gender within several state bodies, including Justice Administration.
Mozambique is also a State Party to the Maputo Protocol, which it ratified in 2005. The Protocol commits governments to ensuring women’s equal participation in political life, including through affirmative action measures and legislative reforms. Regional monitoring under the State of African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) framework has noted Mozambique’s comparatively strong performance in women’s parliamentary representation, while simultaneously highlighting gaps between formal commitments and lived realities—particularly regarding violence against women in politics and women’s limited access to decision-making roles beyond the legislature. At the policy level, Mozambique has adopted a National Gender Policy and its Implementation Strategy in 2006 and updated it in 2018, as well as successive National Action Plans for the Advancement of Women from 2018 - 2022.
The Mozambican government has reiterated committed to the implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. The country has recently conducted a participatory assessment of a National Plan on the subject (PNAMPS 2018-2022). The process also aimed at building an updated plan for 2025 to 2029. The previous plan was focused on political and legal cadre, equality and equity in security institutions, women’s participation in structures and processes for peace and security, sexual and gender-based violence in peace and conflict, and gender perspective on emergency and recovery support. The assessment process revealed that while the plan helped raise awareness and institutionalize the Women, Peace and Security agenda, its impact was constrained by insufficient funding, weak coordination, limited monitoring and evaluation, and persistent sociocultural barriers to women’s meaningful participation, particularly at subnational levels.
Challenges to Women’s Political Participation
Over the years Mozambique has held significant achievements when it comes to women’s political representation. In the 2024 Global Gender Gap Report, the country came in 27th in the overall ranking, the 3rd highest in Africa. The parity seen at the ministerial level placed it in 8th place on the political empowerment ranking. It was among a group of only 12 countries globally with aparity score of over 50%. At the time, 43% of parliamentary seats in Mozambique were held by women. As mentioned previously, however, Mozambique no longer has parity in its cabinet and the number of women in parliament is now slightly reduced. Additionally, the country is yet to have a woman run for President. Representation at the subnational level is also further still from parity. This election saw very few female candidates for the role of provincial governor, with only three elected out of 10 provinces.
One element frequently mentioned as one of the leading obstacle to women’s political participation in Mozambique is social perception and gender roles. According to the Afrobarometer study, on one hand, 70% of Mozambicans believe women are as capable as men when it comes to leadership and should have the same chance of being elected for political office. 66% believe a woman elected for office would gain standing in the community, for herself and for her family. Still, more than half of those surveyed believe an elected woman is likely to face issues with her family and be criticised or harassed by others in her community. Society is also very split on whether government officials should be doing more to advance women’s rights and equality. Gender-based violence (GBV) was named as the most important issue (23%) to be addressed in relation to women’s rights and equality, followed closely by the issue of too few women in influential positions in government (21%).
Another obstacle to women’s political participation is lack of access to education, particularly illiteracy rates. In 2023, the then president of Mozambique disclosed that 49.4% of women could not read. In the country’s conflict-affected north the situation is even more dire, with only one in every four women and girls over 15 being literate. A government programme for adult literacy has contributed to a slight improvement in illiteracy rates, but change has been slow.
The role of civil society/ women MPs in advancing female political participation/ representation and women’s rights
Mozambique has several well-articulated activists and women’s organisations. They use their visibility in the media to highlight, among many issues, that women represent 53% of the electorate in Mozambique, denouncing the persistent gap in political participation. These actors emphasize that numerical representation does not automatically translate into meaningful and effective participation, pointing to barriers that limit women’s ability to have their voices heard and their contributions recognized. Prominent among these organizations is Fórum Mulher, a leading women’s rights network that engages in advocacy, leadership training, coalition-building, election monitoring, and support for women candidates, as well as WLSA Moçambique (Women and Law in Southern Africa), a legal advocacy NGO that advances women’s political participation through democratic engagement initiatives and capacity-building for elected women, often in partnership with international actors.
Additionally, a network of approximately 300 community leaders have been working locally in partnership with civil society organisations to help prevent and identify cases of early marriage and early pregnancy. Unfortunately, there is not much information available on initiatives led by women MPs and other civil society organisations. In contrast, programmes implemented in partnership with the United Nations and external actors such as the European Union have more visibility, including through government channels. Notably, networks of women jurists, women in municipal government, and women legislators do exist and are actively organizing to advocate for greater equity, but documentation and public information on their activities are limited.
Conclusion
The 2024 elections in Mozambique were contentious due to allegations of fraud and irregularities. Protests that lasted for months left over 300 dead and 600 wounded. While recognising some irregularities, the country’s Constitutional Council claimed they did not impact the final outcome and proclaimed Daniel Chapo the winner. Chapo is affiliated to the FRELIMO party, which has ruled Mozambique since its independence in 1975. FRELIMO also secured a landslide victory in parliament with 171 seats, while PODEMOS, the now largest opposition party in parliament, obtained 43.
With the rejection of Dorinda Catarina Eduardo’s candidacy due to irregularities, Mozambique continues to never have had a woman as presidential candidate. In parliament, 98 women were elected, a slight (4%) reduction in comparison with the previous legislature. Importantly, Maria Benvinda Delfina Levi (FRELIMO) was appointed as Mozambique’s second-ever woman Prime Minister and Margarida Adamugy Talapa (FRELIMO) was elected President of the Assembly with a landslide majority. She is the third woman to lead Parliament in Mozambique. When it comes to government ministries, the previously achieved parity was reversed and there are now only five women ministers. While many of these portfolios are strategic, this reduction nonetheless represents a setback in women’s representation.
Major challenges to women’s political participation in Mozambique include: insufficient representation, particularly at the sub-national levels; lack of space for meaningful participation for those elected; gender roles and societal pressures; gender-based violence; and access to education. Importantly, activists, women’s rights organisations, and Mozambican women more broadly continue to take action and join efforts to improve their political participation and advocate for equity.