On Wednesday August 30, 2022, UNITA rejected the final results of the general elections of August 24, published by the National Electoral Commission (CNE). In power since 1975, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) headed by Joao Laurenço was declared the winner by the CNE with 51.07% of the vote (124 deputies), against 44.05% of the vote. (90 deputies) for its main rival UNITA.
These two main political parties, which have been opposed since independence from Portugal in 1975, fought a battle that turned into a civil war for 27 years and ended in victory for the MPLA in 2002. The overall human toll of this civil war is estimated at 800,000 dead.
As a reminder in Angola, there is no presidential election as in most African countries. Thus, the Head of State is the head of the list of the winning party in the legislative elections.
Joâo Laurencço therefore remains at the head of the country in what is considered by observers to be the tightest ballot in the history of Angola. In comparison with the 2017 general elections won with 61% of the vote by the MPLA.
If for Joao Laurenço this vote is proof of the transparency observed during these elections, the opposition and part of public opinion had mentioned the risk of fraud before the ballot.
Before the final results, the opposition had already disputed a preliminary result that gave victory to the MPLA. Four of the sixteen CNE members did not sign the final results, expressing doubts about the electoral process.
“The appeal to contest the final results has been filed” with the national electoral commission, Faustino Mumbika, national secretary of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), told AFP.
UNITA spokesman Alcino Kuvalela meanwhile told the press that “the final results will be those that will be defined after all the claims of the parties that competed have been confirmed in the Angolan elections”.
“We hope that depending on what will happen, the process will end well and the sovereign will of the Angolan people will be respected,” he concludes.
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