Angola’s President Lourenço sworn in after thin victory in disputed election

Tensions are high in Angola as incumbent Joao Lourenço returned to power earlier this week, after securing another term in his party’s most precarious election yet.

President Lourenço’s MPLA pulled off a narrow victory in Angola’s 2022 elections held last month.

Source: Al Jazeera / AP Photo

Angolan President Joao Lourenço was officially sworn into office for his second term on Thursday amid a heavy security presence including 20 tanks. Elections held on August 24 saw the 68-year-old former general’s party, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), win by a slim majority, taking 51.17 percent of the vote. The main rivals of the MPLA, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), made considerable gains, receiving 43.95 percent of the vote, up from 26.67 percent in the 2017 general election.

UNITA, alongside other opposition parties and political groups, called the recent election unfair and said the vote was marred by irregularities. However, last week on Thursday, Angola’s Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the MPLA, dismissing UNITA’s contestation of the election results and solidifying Lourenço’s win. Angola’s capital city Luanda has seen several small-scale demonstrations by UNITA and its allies, however a heavy military presence has stifled most efforts.  

MPLA supporters gather for President Lourenço’s address at a rally in Luanda in June.

Source: Julio Pacheco Ntela / AFP via Getty Images

The MPLA first rose to prominence in the later years of Portugal’s colonial occupation of Angola, seizing de facto power in 1975 when Portuguese armed forces withdrew and Angola declared itself an independent country. At the time, there were three major factions fighting for control of the new government of Angola: the MPLA, UNITA, and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA). After an ungraceful Portuguese withdrawal in November 1975, the MPLA captured Luanda, and with the help of Cuban expeditionary forces, managed to repel repeated attempts by FNLA militants to dislodge them from the city.

Many African countries recognized the MPLA as the legitimate government of Angola; however, the FNLA and UNITA both set up their own rival governments in Huambo, backed by South Africa. After an internal coup attempt in the MPLA, the party converted to Marxism-Leninism, adding Partido Trabalhista (Party of Labor) to their name. Communist market reforms drove the fledgling nation’s economy into nosedive; luckily Angola’s vast oil resources managed to keep the country afloat.

In 1979, José Eduardo dos Santos, a former minister of planning in the MPLA-PT, became the president of Angola, an office he would hold for more than 35 years. While the FNLA eventually disintegrated, UNITA gathered stronger foreign backing, which included military aid from the United States. Conflict between the MPLA-PT and UNITA intensified further in the late 1980s and, despite a historic ceasefire agreement signed in 1989, both sides continued fighting a war of attrition. 

Civil war continued to rage in Angola into the 1990s, but several failed military campaigns and the collapse of Communist regimes in eastern Europe weakened the MPLA-PT’s position and forced them to enter serious negotiations with UNITA. The MPLA-PT adopted constitutional reforms allowing other political parties to participate, even renouncing its Communist values and reverting back to just the MPLA. Angola’s 1992 elections resulted in a victory for Santos and the MPLA, although UNITA refused to recognize the results and continued its military campaign.

In 1994, President Santos and the leader of UNITA, Jonas Savimbi, signed the Lusaka accord, recognizing the MPLA as the legitimate government of Angola and UNITA as the opposition. Although periodic skirmishes between the rival factions persisted, in February 2002, UNITA and MPLA representatives signed a peace agreement officially ending the 27-year-long civil war in Angola. Since 2002, the MPLA and UNITA have uneasily coexisted, and despite allegations of corruption, economic mismanagement, and election tampering, Santos stayed in power until 2017, when the current president Joao Lourenço took over. 

Pro-MPLA Cuban T-34 tanks roll through the streets of Huambo, Angola in 1975.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Angola’s recent presidential elections evidence the diminishing support for the MPLA, which has ruled over the African nation since its independence from Portugal in 1975. This year marks the MPLA’s worst election performance since multiparty elections began in 1992; UNITA, for their part, made significant progress. Shifting support for the MPLA can be readily seen in Angola’s worsening general election results: in 2008, the MPLA won 81 percent of the vote, while in 2012 and 2017, the figure fell to 74 percent and 61 percent respectively.

Many Angolans, especially the younger generation, have become discontented with the MPLA’s rule and infuriated with corruption scandals, socioeconomic inequalities, and the lack of political bipartisanism. UNITA dealt a heavy blow to the MPLA this election, winning a majority of votes in Luanda, which has historically been an MPLA stronghold. Even more importantly, UNITA gathered enough of the vote to challenge the MPLA’s two-thirds majority in parliament, forcing MPLA politicians to collaborate with the opposition for the first time.

The rapidly shifting political landscape of Angola has serious ramifications not only for the stability of the nation, but also for the greater sub-Saharan African region. Behind Nigeria, Angola produces the most oil of any sub-Saharan African country, making it of critical importance to the regional economy. Additionally, Angola commands one of the most powerful militaries in the region and is a key arbitrator in an ongoing conflict in eastern Congo.

As the MPLA navigates the precarious political situation following August’s highly controversial presidential elections, it will need to address several pressing issues, including its evaporating support and the $73 billion Angola owes in foreign debt, mostly to China. While the high oil prices generated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict have buoyed Angola’s economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that approximately 70% of all Angolan government revenues will go towards paying back the nation’s outstanding debts. In his speech on Thursday, President Lourenço made promises to instigate meaningful economic reforms and improve the quality of life of Angola’s 33 million citizens; however, it will take concrete actions, not just words, to win back the support of the people.