Mozambique's ruling party has taken a commanding early lead in the southern African country's election, according to official returns released Thursday.
The first batch of official results from Wednesday's poll show incumbent President Armando Guebuza and ruling party Frelimo cruising ahead of the opposition, which suffered a split earlier this year.
Guebuza led with 77 percent of the vote, according to the national elections commission which has counted 17 percent of polling stations so far.
Frelimo, the party that has governed Mozambique since independence in 1975, led the parliamentary race with 76 percent of the vote.
Long-time opponent Renamo appeared to be at risk of losing its status as the country's main opposition party as the breakaway Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) overtook it in parliamentary voting.
The MDM outpaced Renamo despite having been excluded from running in most electoral districts because of alleged irregularities in its candidate registration documents.
The MDM had claimed more total votes than Renamo and was in second place behind Frelimo in three of the four districts where it had been allowed to run. Results from the fourth district had not been released.
In presidential voting, Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama was losing his fourth bid for the presidency with eight percent of the vote, on track to be his worst election ever.
MDM founder Daviz Simango, a former Renamo member, had 15 percent.
The poll was Mozambique's fourth since ending a 16-year civil war with a peace agreement that ushered in democratic elections in 1994.
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