ADVERTISEMENTPolls have closed in Angola’s era-ending general election, as the man who has ruled the country since independence is standing down as president.
It is widely expected his handpicked successor, former defence minister João Lourenço will win and maintain the ruling MPLA’s grip on power.
Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, after nearly four deacdes at the top, will retain the party leadership.
“I hope that the living conditions of the population will improve – schools and everything,” one voter remarked.
The MPLA is losing support as some people lose faith in allegedly corrupt officials and the lack of widespread benefits from the country’s long
oil boom, but it remains the leading political party and many people still feel loyal to the former resistance movement that brought
about independence from Portugal, and then won a brutal civil war against the US-South African-backed Unita movement.