Angola’s ruling party claimed victory yesterday in the oil-rich nation’s chaotic landmark election despite opposition attempts to have the result canceled.
The ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) of Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, in power for more than 30 years, predicted a sweeping victory after polls closed late on Saturday.
Voting in the first election since the end of a three decade long civil war began on Friday but was extended on Saturday because of delays and a lack of registers in many polling stations. An African observer mission said the vote had been credible but an EU mission delayed giving a verdict.
“We are going to win big time,” MPLA spokesman Rui Falcao said. “The victory is not in question, only whether we get the numbers required.”
Partial results released by the electoral agency on Saturday indicated an early lead for the MPLA.
ith 35 percent of votes counted from across the country, MPLA won by 81.7 percent, followed by UNITA with 10.5 percent.
MPLA is winning in most provinces, including UNITA’s former stronghold of central and southern provinces, including Huambo, Bie and Benguela.
The opposition UNITA is trailing the MPLA in 14 of 18 provinces.
The Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) — the MPLA’s main foe during the civil war that left 500,000 dead — called on Angola’s Constitutional Court to annul the vote.
It said the delays and lack of ballot material had rendered the vote “illegal.”
UNITA has also accused the ruling party of misusing state funds and monopolizing the media during the campaign.
Alceides Sakala, head of UNITA’s parliamentary group, said: “As far as Luanda is concerned, it was a scandal, the way it was organized.”
Despite the confusion, Angolans turned out in force to vote for the first time since fighting ended in 2002. The electoral commission reported a high turnout, but did not give a figure.
International observers gave cautious approval. Monitors from the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) group said the vote was “peaceful, free, transparent and credible” and reflected “the will of the people.”
But it said delays and procedural glitches could have put off many voters.
The head of the EU observer mission, who on Friday morning called the voting process a “disaster,” was more circumspect.
“There have been problems and they’re trying to change them,” Luisa Morgantini said. “We’ll see what will happen.”
The EU mission said it would delay its official report on the elections until today.
The MPLA said it hoped to get the two-thirds majority needed to change the Constitution.
UNITA said the fact that the problems with polling stations mainly affected Luanda’s sprawling shantytowns — where 90 percent of the city’s 5 million to 7 million residents live — was a ploy to discourage voting in areas where the MPLA was not expected to get a majority.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS