Angola: João Lourenço set to become president as his MPLA wins election

Angola’s ruling party (MPLA) has won the national election but lost ground to the opposition, the electoral commission said Friday, as the oil-rich nation faces a change of leadership.

João Lourenço is set to replace long serving President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. The victory for the MPLA party represents continuity. Lourenço has pledged to fight corruption, diversify the economy and pull the country out of recession.

Lourenço, 63, is a former governor who fought in the war against Portuguese colonial rule as well as the long civil war that ended in 2002.

The MPLA won the election with 61 percent of the vote, the country’s election commission said after 98 percent of votes from Wednesday’s election were counted. The MPLA had 4 million votes, while the leading opposition UNITA party had 1.8 million votes, or nearly 27 percent, election commission spokeswoman Julia Ferreira said.
About 23 percent of eligible voters did not go to the polls.

While the ruling party defeated UNITA, it has lost popularity since beating its rival with 72 percent of the vote in the 2012 election.
The MPLA will get 150 seats in the 220-seat National Assembly, while UNITA’s share of seats rises from 32 to 51.

Some 9.3 million Angolans were registered to vote for the legislature; the winning party then selects the president. The 2010 constitution abolished a direct vote for president.

The opposition made big inroads in populous Luanda province, which includes the capital of the same name. The MPLA won a big majority there in 2012 but got 48 percent this time; UNITA and another opposition group, CASA-CE, had a combined 50 percent. The MPLA had 59 percent in Luanda province in 2012.

Heavily reliant on oil, Angola’s economy has weakened because of the global fall in commodity prices. The opposition sought to capitalize on what it said was growing discontent among the country’s young population.

Lourenço’s main challenge will be Angola’s shift to free-market capitalism at a time when volatile oil prices are taking a heavy toll on the crude-dependent economy and work to reduce on the growing unemployment rate.

Source: Agencies