MPLA decisive victory: Angola's legislative elections on 5 September saw the ruling MPLA win a landslide victory with 81.64% of the vote, reducing the opposition to a residual political force. The main opposition party, UNITA, managed to get a mere 10.39% of the vote and 16 parliamentary seats. What does his portend for the future of democracy in the country? Asks Paula Roque in Luanda.

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ANGOLA

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MPLA decisive victory: Angola's legislative elections on 5 September saw the ruling MPLA win a landslide victory with 81.64% of the vote, reducing the opposition to a residual political force. The main opposition party, UNITA, managed to get a mere 10.39% of the vote and 16 parliamentary seats. What does his portend for the future of democracy in the country? Asks Paula Roque in Luanda.

There was never any doubt that the MPLA would win the parliamentary election, but what was uncertain was whether it would secure a two-thirds majority, given the composition of the young electorate, the disillusionment felt by the impoverished majority, the increase in conflicts over land between slum dwellers and developers, and the increasingly visible accumulation of wealth by the ruling elite that is extravagantly paraded in Luanda.

Many skilled Angolans and the small middle class outside the mainstream of the politically privileged were also disillusioned with the government. Given this unpredictability, especially in Luanda where 21% of the electorate live, the MPLA created the necessary conditions to guarantee an overwhelming victory -through the manipulation of the media, the intimidation of the opposition, a nationwide campaign to install fear in the population, an "organised" disorder of voting in the capital Luanda, and the co-opting of local authorities.

Despite the cl...

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