After almost four decades in which he led Angola through civil war and an oil-fuelled boom, President José Eduardo dos Santos will step down at elections this week. Angola goes to the polls on Wednesday in a historic election marking the end of dos Santos’ 38-year reign, with his party set to retain power despite the country’s economic crisis.
Mr dos Santos’s party, People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola, (MPLA) which has ruled the country since its 1975 independence from Portugal, is expected to defeat opposition parties. Dos Santos’s retirement – reportedly prompted by ill health – has triggered the biggest political transition in decades for Angola, a leading oil-exporter in Africa.
However, his chosen successor, Defence Minister Joao Lourenco, is a loyalist is virtually assured of becoming president. “Dos Santos brought forward his departure to after these elections due to his deteriorating health,” Alex Vines, of the Chatham House think-tank, told AFP news agency. “Lourenco is an ideal transitional successor to dos Santos. He is respected by the military and has not lived a flamboyant lifestyle of many others.”
At a weekend rally in front of thousands of MPLA party supporters, Dos Santos made a brief appearance to endorse the likely new president. “We have no doubt about the victory of the MPLA, and our candidate will be the future president, which is why I ask you: August 23, vote MPLA … and Joao Lourenco,” he said.
Dos Santos has been dogged by reports of illness and his regular visits to Spain for “private” reasons fuelled criticism that his health status was being hidden from ordinary Angolans.
Opposition parties, who have a low profile due to restrictions on their activities and lack of finance, have sought to tap into public anger at the government. “You who are suffering, you who are in poverty, without electricity, without jobs or nothing to eat – change is now,” Isaias Samakuva, candidate for the main opposition UNITA party told supporters on the campaign trail.
Samakuva, 71, took over UNITA after longtime rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was killed in 2002, a death that marked the beginning of the end of a 27-year civil war.
Lourenco, 63, has focused in his campaign speeches on vowing to “fight against corruption”, “create jobs” and “make Angola better”.
