By João Peseiro Monteiro,
LUANDA Angola
Angolans started casting
ballots on Wednesday in what is expected to be the most competitive vote in its
democratic history, with incumbent president Joao Lourenco squaring up against
charismatic opposition leader Adalberto Costa Junior.Opposition leader Adalberto Costa Junior
A struggling economy, the high
cost of living, soaring poverty compounded by the Covid pandemic, drought in
southern parts of the country, and the death of a former strongman president
all loom large.
The ruling People's Movement
for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party, which has held power for nearly five
decades in the oil-rich nation, is facing the most serious challenge since the
country's first multiparty vote in 1992.
"It's been 20 years of
peace and we are still poor," said Lindo, a 27-year-old electrician who
only gave his first name while queuing up to vote in a middle - class suburb of
Nova Vida. "I'm going to vote for Unita. The people want change, the
government doesn't provide for the basic needs of the people".
Eight political parties are
running, but the real contest lies between the MPLA and its long-standing rival
and ex-rebel movement the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
(UNITA).
Opinion polls suggest that
support for the MPLA -- which won 61 percent of the vote in 2017 elections --
will dwindle, while the UNITA, which has entered an electoral pact with two
other parties, will make gains.Incumbent president Joao Lourenco
But UNITA's inroads might not
be enough to unseat Lourenco, who is expected to secure a second five-year
mandate.
Still, it is unlikely to be a
smooth swing back into office for the 68-year-old, who succeeded veteran leader
Jose Eduardo dos Santos five years ago.
"The margins will be
closer than ever before... but the advantages of incumbency mean MPLA is still
odds on to pip Costa (Junior)," said Eric Humphery-Smith, an analyst at
London-based Verisk Maplecroft.
The MPLA has maintained its
grip on the electoral process and public media in Angola, but the opposition
tells its supporters not to be intimidated.
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