DanChurchAid
Angola
A historic election
|
| DanChurchAid's work in Angola focus on Humanitarian Mine Action. Landmines were left all over the country after the civil war that ended in 2002. |
The upcoming elections in Angola will be the second in the history of this Southern African country, and if you judge from the experience from the last elections in 1992, the history is scary. A few months after the last election the civil war in Angola continued with renewed force.
However, the story is different now. The country has been at peace for 5 years and the economic growth is very high, helping a significant part of the population out of the despair that reigned during the civil war. Furthermore, the people of Angola are tired of war and do not seem willing to throw the country into disarray once more.
Weak opposition
The ruling party, MPLA, has significant control over the country, and with the strong economy as a helping factor they seem like they will win the election by a majority. There are a large number of opposition parties, but the only one that seems like posing any threat to a majority rule of MPLA is the former rebel group UNITA.
If UNITA will play a significant role after the election depends whether they can extend there messages into other areas of Angola, than their normal base. This particularly means the slums in the capital Luanda and the coastal town of Lobito, where up to 1/3 of the total electorate can be found.
DCA staff debut at polling booths
DCA is working with mine action in eastern Angola, and are not involved in any activities connected to the election. The election is however a very big day for Angola and could have a very big effect on the work.
To ensure that the DCA staff is well equipped for this historic election, the electoral commission of Moxico province of Angola has been invited to tell the 140 DCA staff strong team in Angola on how to vote. Most of them have never voted before.
DCA are looking forward to the elections and are hoping that Angola will indeed set an example to the world on how a democracy should work, as stated by the president of Angola, Jose Eduardo Dos Santos
