Four opposition parties in Angola on Sunday called for a recount in last month’s general election, alleging “irregularities” during the vote that kept the ruling party in power. The MPLA party of outgoing President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos won just over 61 percent of the votes cast on 23 August and an absolute majority with 150 of the 220 seats in parliament, according to a provisional vote count. The commission is due to release the official results on Wednesday. Isaias Samakuva, head of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), read a statement to reporters saying the process to determine definitive election results “was not conducted, in a large number of cases, in accordance with the law”. The statement was signed by three other leaders of Angola’s main opposition parties.
Besides “irregularities,” the coalition cited “the disappearance of ballot boxes, the appearance of new ballot boxes, the disappearance of voting forms” and “the illegal presence of foreign individuals” during the counting process as reasons for contesting the vote.
But they also charged that the electoral process was “unconstitutional and illegal” and called for a recount of votes in the provinces by a commission comprised of figures from civil society and churches.
The opposition coalition warned it would contest the election through other means if their demands were not met.
Full Article: Angola opposition parties call for election recount.