Angola’s Unita willing to form coalition if the MPLA loses election
Luanda — Angola’s Unita party is willing to form a coalition government with other opposition parties after elections next Wednesday, if the ruling MPLA loses power for the first time since independence in 1975, its presidential candidate said. Unita won just 18% in the last election in 2012; the MPLA won with 72%. But with Angola in the midst of an economic crisis caused by a fall in oil prices, the opposition is hoping to grow its tally, though a lack of credible polling in the country makes the result unpredictable. The electoral commission has said the vote will be fair. Unita is campaigning on a broad platform for change, promising to increase spending on education and health, combat corruption, and open the economy to more foreign investment. "We need to have an opposition that is capable of stopping certain acts which constitute abuses of power," Unita president Isaias Samakuva told Reuters on Tuesday, adding he would welcome working with the rest of the opposition. When aske...
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