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Joao Lourenco

LUANDA. – Angola’s ruling MPLA party was confident that it would get an unequivocal victory in the August 23 parliamentary election, as votes were tallied ahead of the expected release of partial results late yesterday.

Angola, home to sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest economy, held a smooth national election on Wednesday with the MPLA’s former defence minister Joao Lourenco expected to be voted in as the OPEC-member’s first new president for 38 years.

“The victory of the MPLA is unequivocal, practically inescapable. We hope that in the next hours we can already start announcing the numbers,” João Martins, MPLA secretary for political and electoral affairs, told reporters late on Wednesday.

Lourenço, a quiet 63-year-old, more used to army barracks and the closed doors of party politics than the public spotlight, is expected to secure re-election for The People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), but with a predicted reduced majority.

He would replace veteran leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos (74), who will remain as head of the party, giving him potentially sweeping powers over decision-making.

Dos Santos steps down after guiding Angola from Marxism to capitalism while embracing Chinese oil-for-infrastructure investment.

His daughter, Isabel, heads national energy company Sonangol, which runs Africa’s second biggest oil industry. His his son, José Filomeno, is in charge of the $5 billion state investment fund.

The MPLA, which has ruled Angola since independence from Portugal in 1975, has lost some support though many Angolans remain loyal to the party that emerged victorious from 27 years of civil war in 2002.

In the early hours yesterday, the National Electoral Commission said that 15 polling stations failed to open on Wednesday due to transport issues and that about 1,300 people will cast their vote on Saturday instead.

The commission spokesperson said the incident would not impact on the release of partial results.

An unofficial result is expected by Friday. But there may be no formal announcement for two weeks as ballot boxes wend their way along pot-holed roads and dirt tracks in a country of 28 million spread across an area twice the size of France.

While election officials say Wednesday’s vote went smoothly despite minor problems, the main opposition UNITA party alleges that police fired shots and made arrests near some polling stations as people voted in Huambo city.

The Portuguese news agency Lusa quoted a UNITA official, Liberty Chiaka, as saying police dispersed crowds because they didn’t want people to wait to find out results at the polling stations.

In the 2012 election, UNITA lost to the ruling MPLA party, which denied allegations of voting irregularities.

Meanwhile, international observers highlighted the civism and orderly manner shown by voters Wednesday at the polling stations in Angola’s Luanda province.

This assessment was presented to the Press by the head of the Observation Mission of the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc), South Africa’s Miriam Resohoketsoe Keneiloe Saohatse, two hours after the closing of the polling stations.

They expressed the opinion that the success of the voting process on Wednesday is due to the good work of the National Electoral Commission (CNE).

According to her, the observers could learn various lessons from monitoring the voting process Wednesday. – Reuters/Xinhua/News24.