Angolans go to the polls on 24 August to vote in parliamentary elections. The leader of the party with the most seats in parliament automatically becomes the president, so this is also in effect a presidential election.
This will be the fourth election since the end of the Angolan civil war in 2002. The three previous post-war polls were marked by a steady decline in the number of people voting for the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). In the last election, five years ago, the party’s share of the vote was down to 61% nationally, in contrast to 70% in the previous election according to the official tally.
