Angola votes as ruling party seeks to extend 47-year rule

By FERNANDO LIMA
Associated Press

LUANDA, Angola (AP) — Angolans are voting in an election in which President Joao Lourenco is seeking a second term and longtime opposition party UNITA is trying to unseat the ruling MPLA party which has held power for 47 years. Some voters lined up at dawn Wednesday, two hours before polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time. Lourenco and opposition candidate Adalberto Costa Junior of the Union for the Total Independence of Angola, UNITA, cast their ballots in Luanda, the capital city on the Atlantic Ocean. About 14 million of the country’s more than 33 million people have registered to vote. In the previous election in 2017, the turnout was 57% of those who registered.