General election day in Angola. 14 million Angolans will choose this Wednesday, August 24 their deputies and their President of the Republic. Seven political parties and a coalition are in the running. But the battle for power will once again be played out between the MPLA, the Movement for the Liberation of Angola and Unita, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, who have been fighting for over 25 years of civil war. The MPLA has ruled unchallenged since the country’s independence, but the game seems more open for these elections.
By our special correspondent in Luanda,
” A hora, è agora! » The hour has come, shouts Aldaberto Costa Junior, Unita candidate, in front of thousands of supporters who came to see him during his last rally, in the Cassenda district.
This time Unita is convinced of it, political alternation is at the end of the road. Adalberto Costa junior recognizes this himself, “ an alignment of planets was done in his favour.
Aged 60, charismatic and a good speaker, he became head of Unita in 2019. By dusting off the image of the former guerrillas, he was able to gain the favors of a large part of the youth. .
Adalberto Costa junior has also rallied other opposition parties to his candidacy. Among them: CASA-CE of Abel Chivukuvuku, who won 10% of the vote in the 2017 elections.
MPLA in decline
Opposite, Joao Lourenço, the outgoing president is in difficulty. The one who was appointed by Jose Eduardo dos Santos as his successor, disappointed. Throughout his campaign, he highlighted his accomplishments and in particular his economic record: construction of infrastructure, opening up to the market, quest for foreign investors… but the much-promised development is not there. Worse, the country has long suffered the effects of the 2016 oil crisis and that of Covid-19. Today 40% of the population still lives in extreme poverty.
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Another disappointment: its fight against corruption. Joao Lourenço made it the heart of his campaign in 2017. To show his determination, he led a real hunt against the family of Eduardo dos Santos, his mentor. But the operation did not lead to the expected legal consequences and isolated the president from part of the MPLA apparatus.
” This election campaign has been one of the most competitive since 1992 “, explains Nelson Domingos, political scientist. So much so that Joao Lourenço sometimes tripped over the mat. ” In a speech he called civil society bandits, continues Nelson Domingos. Then he called Aldaberto Costa Junior the white rooster because he is of mixed race. A clearly racist statement. When there is no more creativity, no more ideas, the political debate disappears and gives way to violence, manipulation and false information. »
Since 1992 the MPLA has lost about 10% of votes in each presidential election. In 2017 the party failed to win a majority in Luanda, the capital.
Credibility
Another difficulty for the MPLA: the credibility of these elections, already strongly called into question. ” This time cheating won’t pay “, warned Abel Chivukuvuku, president of CASA-CE, running mate of the candidate of Adalberto Costa Junior.
During his last meeting, the Unita candidate announced that he had already filed a number of official complaints to denounce dysfunctions in the electoral process. 2.7 million people who died are registered on the voters’ lists.
” That’s a fact, confirms Jorge Carlos Fonseca, former president of Cape Verde, head of the CPLP observer delegation, the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries. The Minister of Territorial Administration gave us a technical explanation. He considers that this is not a danger since the dead do not vote. In addition, each party has observers in the polling stations. »
However, the National Electoral Commission this year only authorized 2,000 civil society observers to monitor the poll, for 26,000 polling stations. This is why the opposition and civil society organizations have launched the movement “ voto, sento (I vote, I stay), in order to ask each voter to ensure the eve of these elections.
As far as the MPLA is concerned, history speaks for itself. they’ve had power for 47 years and we don’t trust them. As for Unita, it is the main opposition party and not that of the youth, but today Unita offers hope for political change. We do not really adhere to this party, but only alternation counts, whatever the cost. We have no other option.
The parties are deploying great means to seduce young people, the key to the ballot