Economics

Mozambique Votes Against Backdrop of $50 Billion Gas Bonanza

  • Poll could present ruling party with toughest test in 20 years
  • Winner will have to tackle insurgency by Islamist extremists
People wait in outside a school classroom to register their details on the eve of elections, Oct. 14.Photographer: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP via Getty Images
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Mozambicans voted Tuesday in elections that have the highest stakes in the southeast African nation’s history, after a campaign marked by violence, insurgent attacks and fallout from a debt scandal.

The winner will oversee more than $50 billion of investments in gas projects planned by companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Total SA, and need to tackle an Islamic State-linked insurgency that threatens to disrupt them. The vote’s credibility will test a peace accord the government signed in August with the main opposition to end violence that flared in 2013.