Angolans go to polls to elect new president, members of parliament

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - Voting opened in Angola on Wednesday with citizens lining up to cast their ballots to elect a new president and members of parliament in the country’s fifth multi-party elections.

The contest is between the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which has ruled the oil-rich southern African country for nearly five decades and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), a former rebel group turned opposition party.

The MPLA is led by incumbent President Joao Lourenco who is seeking a second term. UNITA is led by Adalberto Costa Junior.

Some 14.3 million citizens are eligible to vote, of which 22,560 reside abroad. Voting will be held for the first time in several cities across the world where Angolans reside.

According to the Angolan Press, there are 13,238 polling stations countrywide and 26 others abroad.

Seven political parties and a coalition are contesting in the elections, but the main contest is between MPLA and UNITA who have a long history of rivalry. The two former anti-colonial guerrilla movements were engaged in a war for many years.

UNITA, like any other opposition party on the continent, has capitalized its campaign on the ruling MPLA’s failures such as high unemployment, and promised jobs to the youth and better-quality education.

Lourenco has been campaigning against corruption, which is an important issue in the Angolan polls, Prof. Dirk Kotze, a South African political scientist, told Anadolu Agency.

He succeeded Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died last month at the age of 79 at a clinic in Barcelona, Spain, following a long illness.

Dos Santos, who ruled Angola from 1979 to 2017, was viewed by some as corrupt. His daughter, Isabel dos Santos, is also linked to several graft incidents.

His body was returned to the country from Spain on the weekend and is expected to be buried on Aug. 28, his birthday.