Angolan parties wrap up campaigning as tense election nears

Adalberto Costa Junior, leader of Angola's main opposition party UNITA, addresses his supporters during the party's final rally at Cazenga, outside the capital Luanda, Angola, August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

Angolan presidential candidates on Monday wrapped up a month-long campaign ahead of this week's election which is likely to be a tense standoff between a ruling party in power for decades and an opposition with growing appeal among youth.

The MPLA, led by João Lourenço since 2017, has governed Africa's second-biggest oil producer since independence from Portugal in 1975. But longtime opposition party UNITA is stronger than ever, as anger grows at government failures to convert vast oil wealth into better living conditions for all.