1999 and 2000s
At the elections in late 1999, President Chissano was re-elected with 52.3% of the vote, and FRELIMO secured 133 of 250 parliamentary seats. Due to a mass of scams and several cases of corruption, Chissano's government has become the target of wide criticism. However under Chissano's leadership Mozambique continued to be regarded as a model of fast and sustainable economic growth and democratic changes.Chissano decided freely not to stand for the 2004 presidential election although the constitution permitted him to do so.
In 2002 during its VIII Congress, the party selected Armando Guebuza as its candidate in the presidential election on December 1–2, 2004 where he won expectedly with about 60% of the vote. At the last legislative elections of the same date the party won 62.0% of the popular vote and 160 out of 250 seats. RENAMO and some other opposition parties made claims of election fraud and denounced the result. These claims were supported by international observers (among others by the European Union Election Observation Mission to Mozambique and the Carter Center) to the elections who criticized the fact that the National Electoral Commission (CNE) did not conduct fair and transparent elections. They listed a whole range of shortcomings by the electoral authorities that benefited the ruling party FRELIMO. However, the elections shortcomings have probably not (also according to EU observers) affected the final result in the presidential election. The distribution of parliamentary seats among the parties will have been somewhat altered though, RENAMO probably losing some seats to FRELIMO. The Shangaan ethnic group is noted for its support for FRELIMO.
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