Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos won a landslide victory
in the election this month. He and the MPLA received about 73% of the vote,
with the former rebel group UNITA getting about 18% and the new Casa party
getting the remainder. Dos Santos has
been in power since 1979, when the Portuguese left the country, and the capital
was left to the Eastern backed MPLA.
This is the second election (the first being in 2008) since the
conclusion of the 27 year long civil war that ravaged the country. Although an election seems to be a step in
the right direction, many are complaining that the elections were unfair. One prominent member of the Casa party
dismissed the results as “cheating taken to the maximum level.” He also stated that "This is like a
declaration of war by the MPLA ... it indicates to citizens that there can be
no alternative through the electoral route.”
The Press Freedom Index ranked Angola 132nd out of 179 in
the most recent worldwide index. In a
country that suffered through such a long civil war, that clearly still has a
long way to go to reach a democracy, opposing parties that feel cheated can be
a dangerous situation. The countries
2010 constitution adds to this fear, as it gives the President (Dos Santos)
almost absolute power.
I chose this event, first because we just covered Angola in class, and second because a sign of instability in a country
that suffered through one of the longest civil wars Africa has seen is
unsettling. The civil war led to an estimated 1.8 IDPs (Internally Displaced
Persons), and ended in 2002. The scars of a war like that are still deep, and
with one party holding all the power, this could potentially lead to future
conflicts.
Sources:
“Angola’s Santos in Landslide Win”
