Angolan ruling party wins majority of vote

17 Sep 2008 07:21 - Staff Reporter

Angola's electoral commission late on Tuesday reported the final results of this month's legislative elections.

Angola’s electoral commission late on Tuesday reported the final results of this month’s legislative elections, with the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) garnering 81,64% of the votes.

The MPLA, in power for the past 33 years, won 191 seats in the 220-seat legislature in the September 5 election, the commission said.

The opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), the MPLA’s former wartime adversary, won 10,39% of the votes cast, electing 16 deputies to the national assembly.

Voter turnout was at 87%, the commission added.

Angolans went to the polls in the first elections held since the end of the country’s 27-year-long civil war in 2002.

The last elections held in 1992 during a lull in the bloody civil conflict were contested by former rebel movement Unita, plunging the country back into a war which only ended six years ago.—Sapa-AFP

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