John Adoyi, PBA Journalism Mentee
AT least 14 million registered voters in oil-rich Angola are filing out on Wednesday to elect a new president or return the incumbent for a renewed five-year term.
The oil-rich Southern African country has had only three presidents in 47 years of its history as an independent nation, and pundits have described today’s election as ‘a tight race,’ especially as the entire 33 million populace would now have a chance to make changes.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThis is the 5th time, since 1992, that citizens of the southern African country would take to the polls to elect new leaders and they have a choice between the long-time ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), led by President João Lourenço, and the rebel-turned-opposition group, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), led by Adalberto Costa Junior.
Although there are other six political parties vying for the Presidency, the MPLA and the UNITA have been put forward by analysts as top contenders.
Other fringe political parties are the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), the Nationalist Party for Justice in Angola (P-NJANGO), the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA), the Social Renewal Party (PRS), the National Patriotic Alliance (APN), and the Broad Convergence for the Salvation of Angola Electoral Coalition (Casa-CE).
READ ALSO: Nigeria Loses Largest African Oil Producer Status To Angola, As OPEC Reveals Country’s Problem
As oil-rich Angola votes, the National Commission for Elections has said that about 14 million citizens have registered to take part in the electoral process out of 33 million citizens and for the first time, Angolans in the diaspora are able to vote and 22,560 voters have registered to vote.
The southern African country, which is one of the big oil- producing countries in Africa has been battered by 20 years of civil war and high level of corruption that started since the era of formal late president José Eduardo dos Santos, who died in Spain this year.
Constant economic recession has led to high level of unemployment and high inflation living citizens in hardship.
The opposition UNITA party led by Adalberto Costa Junior is hoping to capitalise on these frustrations, as millions of youth vote for the first time on Wednesday.
It is promising more jobs and better education than has been provided by the party that has governed Angola since it won independence from Portugal in 1975.
So far in 47 years of Angola’s independence, there have been three presidents. President Agostinho Neto ruled from 1975 till his death in 1979, José Eduardo dos Santos had power for 38 years (1979-2017) before the the incumbent president, João Lourenço, who is hoping to retain power for another 5-year term.
