Angola's President Joao Lourenco is poised for a second term as his party raced toward a majority in a closely fought election. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)
Cape Town - Joao Lourenco's party, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, or MPLA, was ahead with 52.08% of the vote in a provisional count, according to the latest provisional data provided by Angola's National Electoral Commission (CNE).
According to the Angola Press News Agency, the Network of Jurisdictional Bodies and Electoral Administration of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), said that the general elections were orderly and peaceful.
The head of the mission, José Carlos Barreiro, stressed that the fifth polls in Angola, held Wednesday, was carried out in accordance with international requirements and Angolan law.
The largest opposition party, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, garnered 44.05 percent of votes, the CNE said.
CNE spokesman Lucas Quilundo said that at a time when 97.3 percent of polling stations had been scrutinized, there would be no substantial changes in the final results.
Seven political parties and a coalition contested this year's general election, the fifth since democratic elections were first held in the country in 1992.
Whichever party wins Wednesday’s elections also appoints the next president.
Incumbent Joao Lorenco is from MPLA, which has been in power since the southern African nation won independence from Portugal almost half a century ago.
ANC congratulates ‘sister party’
The ANC congratulated it’s ‘sister party’, on Friday, which looked set to win the elections, according to early statistics from the Commission of National Elections of Angola.
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