Angolan ruling party gains about 82 percent of votes in legislative race
17/9/2008 17:17
Angola's ruling party the MPLA gained 81.64 percent of the votes in the
final results of the country's parliamentary elections, the Angolan electoral
commission announced late yesterday.
It was Angola's first election since a
27-year civil war ended in the country in 2002.
The Popular Movement for the
Liberation of Angola (MPLA) won 191 seats in the 220-member parliament in the
election on September 5, the commission said.
The main opposition party the
National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) garnered 10.39
percent of the votes, having 16 deputies elected into the national
assembly.
The turnout was 87 percent, according to the commission.
Over
8.2 million Angolans registered for the elections and cast their votes at 12,274
polling stations across the country on September 5.
To show the world that
Angola pursues after democracy, the government invited 1,200 foreign observers
from 17 international organizations and 10 countries to follow up the elections.
Fourteen out of Angola's 150 political parties and coalitions took part in the
elections to vie for the 220 parliamentary seats.
The electoral commission
released the last provisional results of the September 5 parliamentary elections
last week, which continued to place the ruling MPLA party in the lead with
4,520, 453 million votes.
The commissions has been counting the votes in the
Special Ballot Boxes and also studying mechanisms to sort out the situation with
what has been termed as "Votes Under Complaint" before releasing the final
results.
Before the release of the final outcome, the UNITA earlier last week
admitted its defeat in the parliamentary elections.
Isaias Samakuva,
president of the UNITA, has told reporters that "at a time about 80 percent of
the total valid votes have been counted, despite all that happened, UNITA
leadership accepts the results of the elections and wishes the winning party to
rule to the interest of all Angolans."
The UNITA leader also praised the
voters for their active participation and civism and thanked those voting for
UNITA.
After the vote, the Embassy of the United States in Angola has
congratulated the Angolan people on the commitment and serenity shown during the
parliamentary elections.
US Ambassador Dan Mozena who was conducting an
assessment of the US observer mission to the elections told reporters that he
was satisfied with the way the electoral process was held countrywide.
The
European Union observer mission has also praised the efforts made by Angola's
electoral commission to secure balanced parliamentary elections and overcome
constraints in an impartial and practical way.
Meanwhile, the observer
mission of the Southern Africa Development Community has released a communique
on the elections, considering that the elections were credible, peaceful and
transparent.
Xinhua
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