Angola's opposition has vowed to contest the results of the elections held on August 24 in which the country's governing People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party claimed victory.
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola "does not recognize the results" of the national electoral commission and "will file an appeal which will have the effect of suspending the declaration of the final results", announced Alvaro Chikanangwa Daniel, secretary general of UNITA in a recorded video statement sent to AFP.
On Monday UNITA, the main opposition party, had disputed the provisional results by the electoral commission, stating that the figures were wrong.
"UNITA does not recognize the provisional results," UNITA leader Adalberto Costa Junior said at a press conference.
The Election Commission announced results after processing 97.03% of the ballots, according to which the ruling MPLA party of incumbent Joao Lourenco won, securing 51.07% of the votes. The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) was the runner-up with 44.05 percent of votes. However, Costa Junior claimed that the process was marred by counting irregularities.
According to the oil-rich country's legislation, the leader of the party winning the most seats automatically becomes the President of the Republic. Thus, the current head of state, Joao Lourenco, won his second consecutive five-year term.
The MPLA has ruled the former Portuguese colony since it gained independence in 1975. Last week's elections were Angola’s fourth since the end of a decades-long foreign-backed civil war in 2002. UNITA is a former rebel group that fought the MPLA during the 27-year war. Now the main opposition group had hoped to defeat the ruling party at the ballot box.
Adalberto Costa Junior, 60, is an Angolan politician who spent decades abroad in Portugal and Italy before returning to his native country. UNITA had joined forces with smaller parties to create a ‘United Patriotic Front’ electoral alliance, banking on the support of eligible young voters who do not remember either Portuguese rule or the MPLA’s defining role in securing independence.
Re-elected president Joao Lourenco said that MPLA`s victory meant that the government could assume its political commitments "with courage and responsibility," and to make the necessary changes."