Voters in Angola went to the polls on Wednesday in what was largely regarded as the most competitive election in their nation’s democratic history, pitting incumbent President Joao Lourenco against charismatic opposition leader Adalberto Costa Junior. Vote counting has now started. For the first time, Angolans living overseas were also entitled to vote.
Since the first multiparty election in 1992, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which has dominated the oil-rich country for almost to 50 years, is facing its toughest opposition yet.
There are eight political parties running, but the MPLA and its longtime opponent and ex-rebel movement, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, are the genuine front-runners (UNITA).
According to opinion polls, the UNITA, which has a coalition agreement with two other parties, will grow in popularity while support for the MPLA, which received 61 percent of the vote in the 2017 elections, will decline.
However, UNITA’s gains might not be sufficient to dislodge Lourenco, 68, who took over as leader five years ago after the seasoned Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
At the polls in the morning, there were dozens of people in line, but by lunchtime there was barely a trickle.
Following his vote at Lusiada University in the nation’s capital, Lourenco urged Angolans to cast their ballots in order to ensure that “democracy wins.”
His adversary Costa Junior, who voted in the working-class Nova Vida district, urged “maximum turnout and for all ballots to be counted.”
The 60-year-old Costa Junior is well-liked by young people, a sizable and expanding voting group, and has promised to “eradicate poverty” and generate jobs.
Justin Pearce, an analyst, said the race appeared to be “extremely competitive.”
The MPLA has had less currency as time has passed since the civil war, according to a history instructor at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
But “the opposition has improved its organization and discovered some social harmony.
“The result appears to be closer than it has ever been.”
The state media and the voting process in Angola are usually under the control of the MPLA, but the opposition is pushing supporters not to be frightened.
Social media is replete with accusations of deceased voters being registered to vote, and opposition and civic groups have voiced concerns about voter fraud.
After voting has ended, the opposition has urged supporters to hold sit-ins outside polling stations and observe the counting process in peace.
Miguel, 57, a resident of Cazenga, a working-class neighborhood, declared he would accept the results of the vote regardless of what they were.
He replied, without mentioning his last name, “We have to accept the outcomes, it’s the democratic game.”
However, Alberto Bernardo Muxibo disagreed, referring to himself as a civil society activist.
“There isn’t a true democracy here. The populace is oppressed by the government, “added said.
Former general Lourenco, who received his education in the Soviet Union and ran on a platform of a new age for Angola, has touted a long list of accomplishments. He is credited with implementing significant improvements in one of the economic engines of southern Africa.
They include encouraging business-friendly policies to entice foreign investors and increasing financial transparency and efficiency in parastatal organizations.
Marisa Lourenco, an analyst based in Johannesburg, called Lourenco’s handling of the debt accumulated by his predecessor “extraordinary.” Even if there were allegations of vote manipulation, the West would not object to an MPLA victory, she claimed.
Foreign governments and businesses choose stability over change. However, the majority of Angola’s 33 million citizens, for whom life is a daily grind, have seen little change.
Angola is the second-largest producer of crude in Africa, but dos Santos, who passed away in Spain last month, allowed corruption and nepotism to flourish due to the oil boom. The election has taken on a macabre quality as a result of the low-key, late-night repatriation of his remains during the closing stages of the campaign.
On Sunday, Dos Santos’ funeral will take place; that day would have been his 80th birthday. The election has been somewhat overshadowed by news of his passing and conflict with his family about where his ashes would be interred.
In the huge country of southern Africa, there are 13,200 voting places with about 14.7 million registered voters.
Results should be available in a few days. Results of previous elections have occasionally been challenged, a procedure that might take weeks.
