Angolans vote as Dos Santos oversees biggest political transition in decades
Luanda — Angolans voted on Wednesday in an election marking the end of President José Eduardo dos Santos’s long reign, with his MPLA party set to retain power despite an economic crisis. The MPLA, which has ruled since Angola’s independence from Portugal in 1975, is expected to defeat opposition parties stifled by Dos Santos’s authoritarian regime. Dos Santos’s unexpected retirement — reportedly prompted by poor health — has triggered the biggest political transition in decades for Angola, a leading African oil exporter. His chosen successor, however, is João Lourenço, a party loyalist who served as defence minister until last month, and who is expected to avoid immediate change in a government often criticised for corruption and its failure to tackle dire poverty. "I am calm, I am going to stay calmly at home while waiting for my party colleagues to inform me of the results," he said after voting in Luanda, adding that the election was "going smoothly".
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