Angola opposition cries foul

2008-09-06 10:00

Luanda - Chaos at the start of Angola's first peacetime elections on Friday prompted opposition calls for fresh polls, as the ruling party looked set to keep its grip on power in Africa's leading oil producing nation.

Most Angolans revelled in the opportunity to vote for the first time since the end of a bloody 27-year civil war in 2002, forming snaking queues outside polling stations and patiently waiting for hours.

"These elections mean a lot because now people are free. During the war people were not free," said Ana Lopes, voting in one of Luanda's ubiquitous poor neighbourhoods.

After a chaotic start at many polling stations, especially in the seaside capital Luanda, things improved as the day progressed.

"We have news that the majority of polling stations are now open and operating," said Angola's poll chief Caetano Sousa, admitting that the much anticipated ballot had a rocky start.

"We have been waiting for 16 years (for this vote) and now we won't have to wait another 16 because elections will happen every four years now," Maria Bernadeth Fransico, a woman in her fifties, said.

Late on Friday, however, the leader of the opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), Isaias Samakuva, alleged that the electoral process had "collapsed".

When asked by a journalist whether this meant new elections should be held, Samakuva - who took his complaints to the electoral commission - replied: "Yes".

"What we want is the cancellation of this election," added Sindiangani Mbimbi, who leads the Party for Development, Progress and National Alliance of Angola (PDP-ANA).

"For us, this election has been a political theatre... We wanted a credible and peaceful process where all the parties would have equal chances, but in this type of bad joke all the rules have been trampled on."

While Angola's new wealth stems from its vast oil and diamond riches, fuelling double-digit growth, most of its 17 million people remain mired in poverty, living on less than two US dollars a day.

Six years after the end of the civil war, which left at least 500 000 people dead, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos' Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) was expected to emerge the winner.

Unita - which battled the MPLA in the civil war - branded the election as unfair before it began, and accused the MPLA of misusing state funds and resources for campaigning. It also claimed the vote was "stained".

Despite the confusion in Luanda, home to more than 20% of the eight million registered voters, the event appeared to go more smoothly in the rest of the country.

Dos Santos on Friday said: "It's a very important and historical moment. The most important thing for us is that Angola emerges the winner in this great attempt to consolidate democracy."

Voting in the chic Cidade Alta quarter, dotted with buildings dating back to Portuguese colonial rule, Dos Santos, 66, flashed a victory sign and said: "For the present, things are going well."

But Samakuva said: "Some of our delegates have received false credentials, or were given wrong addresses of non-existent polling stations. There is a lot of confusion mainly here in Luanda."

Angola held one attempted election in 1992 - but Uinta claimed it was fixed, withdrew and new hostilities started.

Officially the electoral commission has 15 days to count the votes. Observers in Angola said the first partial results could come as early as Saturday.

- AFP