Angolan Nationalist Party backs President Joao Lourenco for a second term | News

The leader of the MPLA, who took over the presidency of Jose Eduardo dos Santos in 2017, will present it for next year’s poll.

Angola’s ruling party, which has been in power for nearly half a century, has elected its current president, Joao Lourenco, as its candidate for next year’s elections.

Members of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) were re-elected by a majority on Friday as leader of the Lourenco party at a congress in the capital, Luanda.

The main opposition party, UNITA, re-elected Adalberto Costa Junior as its leader and arrived a few days later, positioning himself as the main opponent of the presidential election.

Presidential voting will take place on August 22nd. According to the Angolan electoral system, the leader of the party with the most votes takes office.

The MPLA has ruled the country since independence in Portugal in 1975.

Lourenco, 67, took over as president in 2017 from Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

He was the Minister of Defense of Dos Santos, who had absolute power in the country for 38 years.

Angola is rich in natural resources. The country is Africa’s largest oil producer, but many of its 33 million people live in poverty.

Dos Santos is accused of appointing family and friends to key positions during his marathon rule, leaving the country a legacy of poverty and nepotism.

Lourenco is committed to restoring Angola’s oil-dependent economy and fighting corruption by directing a clean-up of his predecessor’s administration, focusing mainly on the former family.

The children of Dos Santos have accused Lourenco of a political “witch hunt”.