Angola set to hold general elections in August 2017

LUANDA, Saturday

Angola’s general elections will take place in August 2017, the country’s President has announced.

The elections will be the third since the end of the civil war in 2002.

President José Eduardo dos Santos made the announcement during the opening of his ruling MPLA party Central Committee meeting on Friday.

The meeting was aimed at preparing the party’s seventh congress to take place from August 17 to 20, 2016, which will nominate the presidential candidate.

SECOND-LONGEST SERVING STRONGMAN IN AFRICA

President dos Santos did not make it clear if he would run for another term.

He said 45 per cent of top party posts would be reviewed.

“We approved the principal thesis of the party during the congress which will be ratified during the ordinary congress,” he told the meeting.

“The alterations to be introduced and the party’s general programme will dominate our attention.”

In July, during his party’s meeting President dos Santos said he would serve his full term but stressed the necessity of a transition structure.

Dos Santos is Africa’s second longest-serving leader after Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.

He has been at the helm of the country and party since 1979.

Critics accuse the 73-year-old of overseeing corruption, misrule and intimidation of the opposition in a country that suffers poverty despite being Africa’s second-largest oil producer.