Angola’s ruling party People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA)has won the legislative elections. This gives the outgoing president Joao Lourenco a second term, according to official results announced Monday.
In a keenly contested poll, People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) won with 51.17 percent of the votes cast, compared with 43.95 percent for the leading opposition party, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), the National Electoral Commission said at a news conference.
UNITA leader Adalberto Costa Junior had earlier rejected the results. He had cited discrepancies between the commission’s count and the main opposition coalition’s own tally. Costa Junior did not immediately respond to the announcement of the final results.
According to Africanews, the announcement came a day after the funeral of Angola’s long-serving ex-ruler and MPLA stalwart, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died in Spain in July. Hence security in the capital Luanda was tight.
