Voters in Angola await vote outcome on successor to dos Santos

Angolans on Thursday awaited results from an election to chose a successor to long serving president José Eduardo dos Santos, who is set to step down.

The electoral commission was expected to release first partial results later Thursday, with the ruling MPLA widely predicted to retain power and install its candidate Joao Lourenço as president.
The MPLA, has governed Angola since it’s hard-fought independence from Portugal in 1975, however, the party could suffer a fall in support due to the county’s economic woes.

In addition, under dos Santos, the country has seen growth in infrastructure spending, which in turn is hoped set to transform Angola into an economic giant on the continent.

The 2 principal opposition parties, UNITA and Casa-CE, hope to have tapped into public anger over inflation that peaked at over 40 percent last year, low growth and high unemployment.

Dos Santos’s stay in office saw the end of Angola’s bloody civil war and a post-conflict investment boom as the country exploited its oil reserves. However, a slump in crude prices in 2014 hit the country hard.

The incoming president, Joao Lourenço, 63, has vowed to boost investment and growth, and said he wants to be recognized as the man who brought an “economic miracle” to Angola.

President dos Santos has been dogged by reports of illness, however the state of his health has been concealed from ordinary Angolans.