Results from entire districts and cities from the Mozambican general election held on Wednesday are now becoming available.

Mozambican voters resident in South Africa voted overwhelmingly in support of President Armando Guebuza and the ruling Frelimo Party in Wednesday's general elections.

The Commonwealth Observer Group on Friday launched its interim statement on the Mozambican general elections held on Wednesday, praising the general conduct of the poll, but criticizing the National Elections Commission (CNE) for its lack of transparency.

The first significant violence arising from Mozambique's general elections, held on Wednesday, has occurred not over votes, or allegations of fraud, but over money.

The Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the electoral branch of the Mozambican civil service, on Thursday night issued a set of provisional results from the general elections held on Wednesday, confirming the overwhelming victory for the ruling Frelimo Party that the public has learnt of through the reports broadcast by Radio Mozambique from the polling stations.

Reeling from his crushing defeat in Wednesday's general elections, Afonso Dhlakama, the leader of Mozambique's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, has threatened "to take power by force".

The vast majority of polling station results from Wednesday's general election, reported by AIM, Radio Mozambique and other local media, are clean, and above board - but they are a few which raise suspicions.

Mozambique's incumbent president looks set to serve a second term of office as partial results of the country's presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections are announced.

In what must be a very bleak day for Mozambique's veteran opposition politician, Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the former rebel movement Renamo, he can at least take comfort from the loyalty of voters in his home district of Chibabava, in the central province of Sofala.

Dozens of small companies defied instructions from the Mozambican Labour Ministry by refusing to give their staff time off work so that they could vote in Wednesday's general elections.

In the results from Wednesday's Mozambican presidential election, the mayor of Beira and leader of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), Daviz Simango, is ahead in his home city - but, in the 40 voting sites visited by AIM, containing about 150 polling stations, the incumbent, and candidate of the ruling Frelimo Party, Armando Guebuza, is less than 1,500 votes behind.

As more results from Wednesday's general election reach Maputo, it is becoming ever clearer that the ruing Frelimo party has won a stunning victory.

In Maputo city, polling stations visited by AIM so far all show the mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, and his party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), coming second in Wednesday's general elections - albeit a long way behind President Armando Guebuza and the ruling Frelimo Party.

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza is set to win Wednesday's presidential election easily in the city of Quelimane, capital of the central province of Zambezia.

In only one district in the country so far has the Radio Mozambique count of the polling station result sheets from Wednesday's general election given any candidate other than the incumbent President, Armando Guebuza, a majority of votes.

The vast majority of the 12,694 polling stations in Mozambique's general and provincial elections held on Wednesday did indeed open on time, at 07.00, declared the general director of the electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the electoral branch of the civil service, Felisberto Naife, at a Maputo press conference on Thursday.

The counting of votes in Mozambique's fourth general elections have started at the country's 12 000 polling stations.

Tata steel and Australia's Riversdale Mining Ltd. will invest $270 million to develop a coal mine in Mozambique.

Initial results indicate a huge victory for Armando Guebuza, with Afonso Dhlakama in second place and Daviz Simango third. Initial results point to Guebuza with 75%, Dhlakama with 15% and Simango with 10%. But turnout is proving lower than seemed likely from the long queues yesterday morning, and could be below 45%.

Early results from polling stations in Maputo city suggest that the newly formed Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) and its leader, Daviz Simango, may come second in this constituency in the parliamentary and presidential elections held on Thursday.