MAPUTO (REUTERS) - Mozambique's top court on Monday confirmed the ruling party Frelimo's victory in an October election, which has sparked massive protests by opposition groups who say the vote was rigged.
The Constitutional Council has the final say over the electoral process and its ruling is likely to spark further protests in Mozambique, a Southern African country of close to 35 million people that Frelimo has governed since 1975.
Western observers have also said the election was not free and fair, and the post-election period has seen the biggest protests against Frelimo in Mozambique's history.
At least 130 people have been killed in clashes with police, according to the civil society monitoring group Plataforma Decide.
Provisional results in late October from the electoral commission, which has not commented on allegations of fraud, gave Frelimo's Daniel Chapo the presidency by a landslide while the party retained its majority in parliament.
The Constitutional Council on Monday proclaimed Chapo president-elect and confirmed Frelimo's majority.
Frelimo has consistently been accused by opponents and election observers of rigging votes since it first allowed elections in 1994, although it has repeatedly denied those accusations.
Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who came second in the presidential election, had warned before Monday's announcement that Mozambique would descend into chaos if the court confirmed Frelimo's win.
"Even though the signs were there, we never thought that the electoral truth would be trampled. The will of the people was obliterated," Judite Simao, a representative for Mondlane, told reporters after the court's announcement.
The post-election unrest has already affected the operations of foreign companies including the Australian mining firm South32 and led to the temporary closure of the main border crossing with neighbouring South Africa.