Angola’s Dos Santos re-elected as head of ruling party
by Agency Staff
2016-08-20 11:36:59.0
LUANDA — Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos was re-elected leader of the ruling MPLA party on Friday ahead of a 2017 national vote.
Dos Santos stood unopposed at the party’s four-day congress in Luanda, where 2,500 of 2,620 delegates voted for the long-ruling leader.
The vote paves for the way for the 73-year-old, in power since 1979, to once again stand for president of the oil-rich country in elections next year.
Dos Santos said in March he would leave politics in 2018, after his current mandate ends at the close of 2017.
But critics are sceptical given similar claims in the past.
Speaking at the congress on Thursday, he stressed the need to hold on to power.
"We must be able to prevent subversive activities to maintain our sovereignty and strengthen peace and stability," he said.
"We must not allow political differences to be exploited by external forces to divide and threaten the peace we fought so hard to achieve," he added, making mention of international "terrorists" and "counter-revolutionaries".
Angola in 2002 emerged from a 27-year civil war which left hundreds of people dead, and the country has held few elections since independence from Portugal in 1975.
Dos Santos came to power in 1979, following the sudden death from cancer of Angola’s liberation president, Agostinho Neto.
As head of the military, police and cabinet, the leader has an iron grip on all aspects of power in one of Africa’s biggest oil-producing countries.
He names the senior judges and has MPLA allies in all public agencies, including the supposedly independent electoral commission.
The country’s electoral system does not allow for a presidential vote, but stipulates that the leader of the winning party automatically becomes head of state.
AFP
Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Picture: REUTERS
LUANDA — Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos was re-elected leader of the ruling MPLA party on Friday ahead of a 2017 national vote.
Dos Santos stood unopposed at the party’s four-day congress in Luanda, where 2,500 of 2,620 delegates voted for the long-ruling leader.
The vote paves for the way for the 73-year-old, in power since 1979, to once again stand for president of the oil-rich country in elections next year.
Dos Santos said in March he would leave politics in 2018, after his current mandate ends at the close of 2017.
But critics are sceptical given similar claims in the past.
Speaking at the congress on Thursday, he stressed the need to hold on to power.
"We must be able to prevent subversive activities to maintain our sovereignty and strengthen peace and stability," he said.
"We must not allow political differences to be exploited by external forces to divide and threaten the peace we fought so hard to achieve," he added, making mention of international "terrorists" and "counter-revolutionaries".
Angola in 2002 emerged from a 27-year civil war which left hundreds of people dead, and the country has held few elections since independence from Portugal in 1975.
Dos Santos came to power in 1979, following the sudden death from cancer of Angola’s liberation president, Agostinho Neto.
As head of the military, police and cabinet, the leader has an iron grip on all aspects of power in one of Africa’s biggest oil-producing countries.
He names the senior judges and has MPLA allies in all public agencies, including the supposedly independent electoral commission.
The country’s electoral system does not allow for a presidential vote, but stipulates that the leader of the winning party automatically becomes head of state.
AFP
