Paul Nyathi|Mozambicans voted on Tuesday in an election which the incumbent President Filipe Nyusi said should help anchor peace, but his main rival, Renamo leader Ossufo Momade has already made allegations of vote rigging, reports from Mozambique indicate.

According to the report, voting had to be stopped in Nampula province due to verbal confrontations between the polling agents and delegates of the main opposition Renamo party, who were claiming evidence of fraud.

“If these results are manipulated we will never accept them, we do not want a return to the problems of the past,” Momade told the media after casting his vote.

Momade is reported to have shown journalists evidence of attempted fraud and declared that his party “would do whatever the people want them to”, without elaborating on the warning.

“This is not democracy, this is what led to the military hostilities in the past and we want to appeal to Frelimo not continue with this procedure because we will never have peace. I want to appeal to the Commander in Chief, who is the president of Frelimo, to appeal to his comrades not to continue to make tasteless jokes, I Ossufo Momade want peace, I want peace, I want the welfare of Mozambican population,” he said.

On social media, several observers and voters shared pictures and videos showing the ongoing process of counting and tallying votes.

Human Rights Watch researcher Zenaida Machado tweeted a picture showing a sample from a polling station in Beira in which the number of ballots were more than the number of voters.

Acceptance of the results of the polls is seen as a key test of a peace deal signed in August between the ruling Frelimo party and its old civil-war-foe-turned-political-rival, Renamo.

The run-up to the vote was marked by sporadic violence, including the killing of an election observer.