Elections at last

The MPLA will retain its dominance in the first elections since the end of the civil war but a new generation of politicians will enter parliament

The 5 September elections will help to determine whether Angola attains its potential as one of Africa’s leading powers. Eight million voters will pick 220 members of parliament as their representatives in the National Assembly, from among 5,198 candidates, ten parties and four coalitions 16 years after the last open election. Then, the União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola lost and relaunched its civil war, which ended in 2002 with the killing of its veteran leader, Jonas Savimbi. Now, outside a few districts in UNITA’s Planalto heartland, the country is at peace and demanding prosperity.

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