Angolan president takes office with army in the streets and resigned opposition

João Lourenço, the current leader of Angola, took office this Thursday (15), in a Luanda full of soldiers, from his second five-year term as the presidency of the Portuguese-speaking nation.

Closed to the public, the ceremony consolidated the MPLA’s trajectory in power, uninterrupted since independence in 1975, and wrecked the opposition’s attempts, which alleged fraud and disrespect for the electoral process, but had its questions frustrated in court.

Faced with the challenge of breaking away from the hegemony of oil, diversifying the economy and raising social welfare levels, which are still slipping, Lourenço repeated in his first speech parts of the formula he adopted in 2017, the first time he was elected.

The Angolan promised to focus attention on the social sector and on the supply of products that are produced in the country itself, a considerable challenge for the nation of 34 million inhabitants that basically exports raw materials and imports consumer goods.

On the streets, the strong military presence was pointed out by locals and activists as a practice of intimidation. It has been that way since the beginning of the month, when the Armed Forces announced a “state of combative readiness” until next Tuesday (20), to prevent what they call post-election incidents, especially in the capital.

News agencies reported repression of anti-government demonstrations and arrests of people who gave interviews critical of João Lourenço and the way the electoral process unfolded. Specialists, even before the election took place, pointed out that the use of the public machine by the government made competition unfair.

To Portuguese Lusa Francisco Furtado, Minister of State and head of security for the president, said that the presence of the Army serves to protect the people, not intimidate. And he accused the opposition of having a subversion plan to overthrow the government based on foreign aid.

“We noticed two years ago that there was a strategy to subvert the order, and it is for these reasons that the forces have to be on standby,” he said. “Any nation is only worth what it is capable of defending itself.”

Criticisms of the results of the election, which ensured 124 seats in a 220-seat Parliament for the MPLP, were trumpeted, Unita, which took the 90-seat share —the highest historical figure for the opposition—, is now accused by activists and social movements of resignation.

The party led by Adalberto Costa Júnior has said more than once that it does not recognize the electoral results and did not attend the inauguration of JLo, as the president is known, but, contrary to what some voters pleaded, announced this Wednesday (14) that will swear in its 90 elected politicians to the National Assembly.

Costa Júnior, in a press conference, said that a broad consultation within the party concluded that “resistance” would be more effective within state institutions than outside them and that this would be the best option to fight for greater democratization in the next elections.

The party is one of those who support the demonstration scheduled for the 24th, the first major mobilization against what opponents call electoral fraud, and promises to continue questioning the results in court, even though the Constitutional Court has denied it last week. , an acronym resource to review the claim.

Speaking to reporters, Costa Júnior said that JLo would take possession of a “self-attributed power” and “questionable legitimacy”, consummating a “coup of force”.

Although, in official numbers, it took 51.17% of the votes, the MPLA suffered defeats in important areas, Luanda being the main one. In the coastal province, 62.25% of the votes were for Unita, against 33.62% for the ruling party, and the rest for smaller parties.

The overall turnout was only 44.82% of the more than 14 million voters. The figure, however, is not considered accurate, since the outdated electoral lists even had the names of citizens who have died.