Angola’s ruling party faces tight survey test.
Millions of Angolans will vote on Wednesday in polls expected to be the most competitive since the country’s first multiparty vote in 1992 but with electoral fraud a concern among voters.
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Despite the oil wealth that benefited the former president, late Jose Eduardo dos Santos and his family, many of Angola’s 33 million people live in poverty and seek change.
“There is a lot of expectation within society,” said Claudio Silva, a political commentator in the capital Luanda. “People are very excited because there is a prospect for actual change.”
For many, the face of change is UNITA leader Adalberto Costa Junior, nicknamed “ACJ”, who has reinvigorated the opposition since taking the helm in 2019 promising a better future.
A talented orator, Costa Junior has captivated young urban voters with pledges to reform government and tackle poverty and corruption.
He broadened the party’s base with an untraditional, collaborative approach, building a coalition with other opposition groups.
– Young voters –
Young people aged 10-24 make up 33 percent of population, according to UN data.
Their concerns differ from older voters, while voters born after Angola’s civil war ended in 2002 do not feel an allegiance to the MPLA, said Augusto Santana, an electoral observation specialist.
“They are looking for better education, jobs and living conditions,” Santana said. “They want to experience something different.”
The MPLA will likely capitalise on Sunday’s repatriation of the body of dos Santos, the late longtime president who died in Spain last month, to trumpet its liberation credentials, said Marisa Lourenco, an independent political analyst.
Dos Santos, whose family have faced corruption allegations following his death, has a mixed legacy meaning his repatriation is unlikely to have a “major impact” on the outcome, Lourenco said.
“Many Angolans loved President dos Santos…. He made mistakes, yes, but what person doesn’t?” MPLA activist Simao Hemenegildo dos Santos, not a relation, said as he attended a small campaign party with barbecue and beers near Luanda’s waterfront.
– Tight, but fair? –
While the MPLA remains the favourite, analysts and opinion polls predict a tight race.
Yet the opposition and parts of the public are already questioning whether it will be fair.
Social media has been rife with claims of dead people registered to vote, Silva said.
On Thursday, Lourenco rebuffed opposition criticism of the electoral commission, which is mostly led by MPLA appointees.
“If they are saying that the electoral process and the National Electoral Commission are discredited, why do they want to participate?” Lourenco told supporters at a rally.
Foreign election observers have arrived in recent weeks.