High turnout in Mozambique's fourth democratic polls

Maputo - Mozambicans turned out in large numbers on Wednesday to vote for a president and parliament in the country's fourth national elections, in which President Armando Guebuza is expected to be returned to power. Voters formed queues outside polling stations across the vast country hours before voting got underway at 7 am (0500 GMT). Guebuza is leader of the ruling Frelimo party, a former Marxist liberation movement that freed the south-east African nation from Portuguese rule in 1975 and has won every election since the first multi-party ballot in 1994. Frelimo's main challenger is the conservative Renamo, which fought a 16-year civil war with Frelimo between 1976 and 1992 that killed around 1 million people. Some 10.3 million Mozambicans are eligible to vote for a president, 250-seat national assembly and 10 new provincial assemblies before the polls close at 6 pm (1600 GMT). 'The process is going on well in every part of the country,' the head of the Central Electoral Commission, Joao Leopoldo da Costa, said at mid-day. In the past few years, since the government has abandoned Marxism for free market policies, the country of around 20 million people, one of the world's poorest, has been one of Africa's success stories. A surge of foreign investment in gas, coal, hydropower, mineral sands and other sectors has fuelled strong gross domestic product GDP growth, which is expected to come in at over 5 per cent this year, despite the international slowdown. Guebuza, a wealthy businessman, and Frelimo are expected to be re-elected on a message of continued reforms and development. 'I'm voting for Frelimo because I want the government to continue what it is doing,' Vitorino Cossa, a 30-year-old civil servant said as he stood in line at a polling station in the capital Maputo. For second place, Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama faces a strong challenge from the leader of a new party, Daviz Simango. Simango, the popular mayor of the central port city of Beira, broke away from Renamo last year following a disagreement to form the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM). The party, which has aroused interest among young voters, has been barred from contesting 9 of 13 constituencies in the National Assembly elections by the electoral commission, which Simango accuses of being biased in favour of Frelimo. Casting his vote, Simango, son of a Frelimo leader who was killed during the liberation struggle, said: 'I was born and grew up with a dream: to be president.' Dhlakama, who is making his fourth stab at president, said: I think this time I will win.' Preliminary results are expected on Monday.