The Angolans went to the polls this Wednesday (24) for a dispute considered historic. Although the ruling party is the favorite, analysts do not rule out a surprising result from the main opposition party – the alternation of power would be unprecedented in the democracy of this former Portuguese colony.
Among eight candidacies, the clash should be restricted to two parties: the MPLA, which has governed Angola since independence, in 1975, and is represented by the current head of state, João Lourenço; and Unita, led by Adalberto Costa Júnior.
The assessment that the opposition has the best chance of victory is based on the articulation around Unita and the participation of millions of young people. People under the age of 25 make up 60% of the country, and many voted for the first time on Wednesday. About 14.4 million voters — half of the country — are qualified for the election, which also included Angolans in the diaspora for the first time.
Analysts believe that this group could express its frustration at the polls with the nearly five decades of MPLA government, which excluded a good part of the population from the economic boom generated by oil exploration.
The polls closed at 2 pm, Brasília time, and the result will only be announced in a few days; for now, attendance data has not been made official. The new president and vice president will be the most voted on a list of the winning party – a system defined by a disputed amendment to the Constitution, made in 2010, which social movements displease.
The release of electoral polls was not allowed, but some unofficial surveys, such as one by the independent institute Afrobarómetro, indicated a growth in Unita’s preference and the indecision of almost half of the voters.
The country is the second largest oil producer in Africa, but half of Angolans live in poverty, and unemployment affects more than half of those under 25 years old. In the capital Luanda, small informal businesses are common on the streets, next to skyscrapers and in the middle of one of the cities with the highest cost of living in the world.
“School is horrible. The healthcare system is horrible. [os políticos] get richer and we suffer,” Severano Manuel, 28, told Reuters, echoing the sentiments of other young voters. A former military man named Salomão, 59, who declined to give his full name, also complained about conditions in the country: “The people have nothing — no water, no electricity, children eat out of garbage cans”.
The president, after voting at Universidade Lusíada, in Luanda, encouraged voters to do the same. “In the end, we will all win, democracy wins and Angola wins,” Lourenço told reporters.
Many, however, are less confident in Angolan democracy. A monitoring group, Movimento Mudei, planned to take pictures of results sheets in as many polling places as possible, coordinator Luaty Beirão told Reuters. He said he feared fraud, claiming that it had occurred in previous elections.
“Police told them to vote and go home. I told them I would vote and sit down,” Severano Manuel said in Cacuano, on the outskirts of Luanda, when his polling place began counting. The orientation was given by Unita’s management.
The electoral commission said there were no disturbances that could compromise the voting process, but analysts say the counting rules, which can delay official results by days, increase tensions – which could escalate into violence.
The fifth multiparty election in the country’s history, the election comes 20 years after the end of a nearly three-decade civil war and just over a month after the death of José Eduardo dos Santos, a controversial leader who spent 38 years in power.
In a few days it will be possible to know whether the union of the opposition – which has garnered foreign support, with Costa Júnior having traveled to Washington and Brussels – has indeed created a window of opportunity for Angola to take democracy out of the fridge.
