Joo Lourenço, the president of Angola, vowed to serve as “the president of all Angolans” on Thursday during his inauguration for a second term in the nation’s capital, Luanda.
After elections whose results were challenged by the opposition, the ceremony was held in the midst of a tight security presence.
With 51.17% of the vote, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which has been in power since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975, won the elections on August 24.
The National Union for Independence (UNITA), the biggest opposition party, claimed to have won the election based on its own count despite receiving 43.95% of the vote, according to the electoral commission.
The opposition appealed to the Constitutional Court after rejecting the results.
This month’s earlier was the rejection of the appeal.
A total of 50 heads of state and government, including the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, were scheduled to attend the ceremony, which was only open to 15,000 carefully chosen Angolans.
The two-thirds majority in parliament that the MPLA held permitted it to pass laws without the help of another party, but it was lost.
