Moz's Chapo Must Move Fast

New President: Protests Over Poll Rigging Claims Causing Deaths, Instability

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New Mozambican president Daniel Chapo took the oath of office yesterday, but will have to quickly find a way to quell deadly protests around the election, which his rivals say was stolen.

Until his Frelimo party tapped him as its candidate in the October polls, Chapo was a little-known provincial governor with no national experience.

At 48, he'll become the first president younger than his nation.

Officially, he won 65% of the vote but opposition candidate Venancio Mondlane insists the vote was rigged.

Frelimo, once a Marxist party, has ruled since the Portuguese colonisers left in 1975.

It has survived one of the world's most brutal civil wars, repeated claims of election fraud and a financial scandal that tanked the economy.

Chapo now faces a young population furious that they remain among the poorest in the world, while his party's leaders have gathered jaw-dropping wealth.