Mozambique’s new parliament was sworn in and opposition leaders called a strike to protest the election results, leaving the capital’s streets largely deserted. controversial election.

Two smaller opposition parties boycotted Monday’s opening ceremony as they refused to accept the results of October’s election, while incoming President Daniel Chabo called for calm and unity after months of deadly unrest.

Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, popular with Mozambique’s marginalized youth, claimed the results were rigged in favor of El Chapo’s Frelimo party, which has been in power for 50 years.

He urged his supporters over the weekend to stage a nationwide strike between Monday and Wednesday when El Chapo is sworn in as president to “demonstrate our rejection” of the formal election results.

Military police surrounded the parliament building and blocked main roads into the area during the inauguration.

The usually busy city center was deserted on Monday morning, with most shops closed and protesters setting up roadblocks in some areas, AFP reported.

Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller reported from the opposition stronghold of Matola neighborhood in Maputo that people were trying to block a main road into the center of the capital.

“People are trying to block the road with burning tires and rocks, and sometimes they are throwing stones, with the aim of preventing people from traveling up and down the road, as part of a strategy to paralyze Maputo,” she said. .

El Chapo and outgoing President Filipe Nyusi attended as MPs from Frelimo, which won 171 seats to Podemos’ 43, were sworn in in the 250-seat National Assembly Take office.

Twenty-eight MPs from the Resistance Movement and eight from the MDM did not leave in protest.

A spokesman for the Mozambican resistance movement told reporters on Sunday that the opening of parliament “constitutes public outrage and a lack of respect for the will of the Mozambican people” who have been denied the opportunity to hold “free, fair and transparent” elections.

MDM said its boycott was an effort to demonstrate its alignment with demands for “electoral truth.”

Official results showed El Chapo received 65% of the presidential vote, while Mondlane received 24%.

But opposition leaders claimed he won 53% of the vote and Mozambique’s electoral body Manipulate results.

Mondlane Return to Mozambique On Thursday, his lawyer was hiding abroad after the Oct. 19 killing.

Thousands of jubilant supporters rallied to meet him in the city center, sparking clashes with security forces that left at least three people dead, according to an election monitor.

Unrest since Election Day on October 9 has claimed about 300 lives, according to local rights groups, and security forces have been accused of using excessive force, including live ammunition, against demonstrators.

The police officer also died, according to authorities.

The unrest has caused heavy losses to Mozambique’s economy, with cross-border trade halted and shipping, mining and industry affected.

Mondlane, 50, said on Facebook on Saturday night that if “parliament took the oath, it would be a betrayal of the will of the people”.

“Let us demonstrate against the inauguration of those who betrayed the will of the people on Monday and against those who stole the will of the people on Wednesday,” he said.

Before the opening of parliament, the 48-year-old El Chapo told reporters that Mozambique needs stability and unity.

With the new parliament in place, “we can continue to work, work together, unite… to develop our country,” he told reporters, calling for an “open, honest debate.”

There have been repeated calls for dialogue to resolve the impasse, but Mondlane was excluded from talks between El Chapo and Nyusi with the leaders of the main parties.

After arriving in Maputo on Thursday, Mondlane reiterated that he was ready for dialogue. “I’m here to say personally that if you want to negotiate … I’m here,” he said.