The Electoral Commission of Angola announced this Thursday (25) that the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) should be the winner of the general elections in the country. The victory of the acronym that has dominated local politics since the independence of the former Portuguese colony, in 1975, after the final count of the polls, sinks the expectation of alternation of power.
With 97.03% of the votes counted, the MPLA, of the current president João Lourenço, obtained 51.07% of the votes against 44.05% of the Unita (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), a party headed by Adalberto Costa Júnior, which must contest the election result.
Less than half of the nearly 14 million Angolans registered to vote actually went to the polls on Wednesday (24) — the turnout rate was 45.65%.
The opponent had already been questioning the partials disclosed before the closing of the investigation, saying that the numbers were not reliable and raising suspicions of fraud.
In an interview with Portuguese radio TSF, Unita vice-presidential candidate Abel Chivukuvuku said the party was considering an objection to the result that “would not correspond to reality”.
The MPLA’s advantage at the polls allows the party to elect at least 124 deputies, guaranteeing an absolute majority in the National Assembly, which has 220 seats. Unita, in turn, will have 90 seats in the House, and the other six seats will be filled by names of three other parties – dwarf legends compared to the two main ones that have dominated Angolan politics for decades.
The Electoral Commission reported that there were no disturbances that compromised the vote. However, civil society groups accuse the ruling party of having control of the electoral process and the state press, raising concerns about the fairness of the vote count. Before the election, organizations had already warned about the possibility of fraud, mentioning a review of the electoral law, led by the MPLA, which removed the count from the municipalities and centralized it at the national level – which would allow less transparency, according to the entities.
Past elections have also had their results questioned, but there are no records of widespread violence. Now, the fiercest race since independence, coupled with criticism of counting rules and allegations of fraud, is adding to tensions in the country.
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.
Although the MPLA was considered the favourite, analysts did not rule out a surprising result from the opposition. The expectation of an unprecedented alternation of power made some Angolans react with disbelief to this Thursday’s electoral result.
According to a political analyst interviewed by Reuters, photos taken by voters of the partial ballots contradicted the electoral commission’s count.
In Luanda, for example, young people were outraged by the results that were being released before the polls closed. According to the commission, the capital voted massively in favor of Unita.
The rivalry between the two parties precedes the conquest of Angola’s independence. The two sides fought a civil war on and off for more than 25 years, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed.
The last struggle lasted a decade and was unleashed in 1992, when Unita contested the results of elections that gave the MPLA a clear majority. The violence sparked a civil war that lasted until 2002, when the two sides reached a peace deal.
The fifth multiparty election in Angola’s history comes 20 years after the end of the war and just over a month after the death of José Eduardo dos Santos, a controversial leader who spent 38 years in power.
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 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.
The coronavirus pandemic has worsened the scenario, and Lourenço’s new term will be with a country with high levels of food insecurity and a GDP (US$ 72.5 billion) that represents half that of 2014.
The president promised change and widespread prosperity when he won elections in 2017, but despite some positive results in fighting corruption, he has not been successful in reducing poverty.
“The 500,000 jobs we were promised are a lie… We have nothing,” unemployed Paulo Tomas, 30, told Reuters, when initial results were still being released on Thursday.
