At first his party mentor and ally was Lopo do Nascimento the former MPLA Secretary General and Prime Minister who was a rival of Dos Santos and who resigned from active politics in 2013...
Vol 49 No 14 |
- ANGOLA
- ANALYSIS
Former Prime Ministers Lopo Fortunato Ferreira do Nascimento and Marcolino Moco have little chance of regaining prominence...
SA's ABSA bank is negotiating for a stake in the private Banco Comercial Angolano linked to Lopo do Nascimento dissident from the ruling Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola...
Moderates such as former premiers Marcolino Moco Lopo do Nascimento and França van Dunem were sidelined at December's MPLA congress...
At the last congress in December 1998 as Angola slipped back into war party stalwart Lopo do Nascimento mounted a serious challenge for the MPLA presidency...
Lopo do Nascimento now an MPLA member of parliament could challenge again as a prospective reformer but only if he wins election to the Central Committee...
More convincing would be a bid by Lopo do Nascimento a long-time MPLA leader and member of parliament who has held most senior offices over the years including as prime minister party secretary general and minister of planning...
The only declared candidate of note is Vicente Pinto de Andrade an intellectual from an established MPLA family and perhaps the stalking horse for another reformist MPLA man Lopo Fortunato Ferreira do Nascimento who has not yet declared and has numerous enemies and not much presidential ambition...
Another leading moderate is party veteran Lopo do Nascimento who like Moco at present has no formal party job; he is favoured by some Western embassies for his credentials as a democrat though his record as a manager in various government positions is less solid...
This was squashed for the first time in December 1998 when the popular Lopo do Nascimento was excluded from the Central Committee thanks to bent vote-counting organised by Desiderio Costa...
Candidates in contention will include the frontrunner and Dos Santos' choice MPLA Secretary General João Lourenço; tough Interior Minister Fernando Piedade dos Santos 'Nando'; and Western-friendly reformist former MPLA Secretary General Lopo do Nascimento...
Respected MPLA politicians such as Lopo do Nascimento and Marcolino Moco and the UNITA parliamentarian Abel Chivukuvuku quietly sympathise with the broad 'peace movement' but keep their lines open to the MPLA establishment...
