Angola President Wins Second Term in Closest Vote in Decades
- Ruling party maintains outright majority in National Assembly
- Main opposition Unita party refuses to concede defeat
Joao Lourenco
Photographer: Julio Pacheco Ntela/AFP/Getty Images
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Angola’s ruling party maintained its 47-year grip on power and secured a second mandate for President Joao Lourenco in this week’s election, fending off a strong challenge from a rejuvenated opposition that’s refusing to concede defeat.
The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, or MPLA, won 51.07% of the valid ballots cast in the Aug. 24 vote, National Electoral Commission spokesman Lucas Quilundo told reporters Thursday in the capital, Luanda. The main opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or Unita, got 44.05%.