Angola’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) on Thursday said the first provisional vote counting results from indicate the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which has been in power for nearly five decades, holds a strong lead over the main opposition, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
Out of the 33 percent votes counted on Thursday, the MPLA, led by President Joao Lourenco, garnered 60.65 percent of the vote, while the UNITA, which is led by Adalberto Costa Junior, received 33.85 percent of the vote, reported The CGTN Africa.
Angola has been run by the MPLA since it got its independence from Portugal in 1975. The people headed to polling stations on Wednesday to elect Angola’s new president as well as members of the National Assembly. 60% of the population of the southern African country is under the age of 25, and many of them were casting their first votes.
Eight candidates from seven political parties and a coalition are competing in this year’s general election, which is believed to be a closely fought election since democratic elections were first introduced in the country in 1992.
The two main presidential candidates are MPLA leader Joao Lourenco, the 68-year-old incumbent who is running for a second term, and UNITA’s Adalberto Costa Júnior, the 60-year-old who is running for the presidency for the first time.
Soon after the provisional vote counting results were announced, the UNITA said the initial count was not reliable. Abel Chivukuvuku, UNITA’s vice-presidential candidate, dismissed the provisional results and said the party would publish its own based on a parallel vote count using the same data as the CNE.
“Tomorrow morning, we will have clearer and more concrete indicators and whoever wants to celebrate will … I hope it’s us,” Chivukuvuku told a news conference.
Notably, Angola’s electoral commission had earlier said there had been no disturbances that could jeopardise the process.
