LUANDA (AFP) — Oil-rich Angola votes Friday in its first poll since a three-decade civil conflict with the MPLA party of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos dominating the campaign as well as the media spotlight.
The country's main opposition leader warned on the eve of the ballot that the vote would not be fair, saying the ruling party had misused state funds and machinery in the run-up.
"The system in which these elections were organised is not fair (...) this campaign was very unbalanced," said Isaias Samakuva, president of the main opposition National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) party.
Campaigning was officially banned on Thursday, but cars festooned with MLPA flags and supporters sporting party colours were omnipresent in the seaside capital Luanda.
Eight million people have registered to vote in the battle between the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which has ruled for more than 30 years and UNITA, its former civil war enemy.
The election will be the first in Angola, Africa's leading oil producer, since an aborted attempt in 1992 held during a lull in a devastating 27-year civil war which ended only six years ago.
Despite massive oil and diamond reserves making Angola one of the world's fastest growing economies, two-thirds of the 17 million population lives on less than two dollars a day.
"I am looking forward to vote because I want Angola to change," 22-year-old Pai Bando told AFP.
"They (the elite) get all the money from the oil and the diamonds, they get everything and we get nothing," said the unemployed Bando, who ekes out a living washing cars.
Despite his grievances, Bando said he would not vote for the opposition UNITA, which has promised a more equal distribution of wealth. He thought only the MPLA was strong enough to make necessary changes.
President dos Santos promised in a rare public speech Wednesday that the MPLA would work on changing the country.
"For us, change does not necessarily come about by a change of party. To change public policies which haven't worked ...
"We must change the members of the team who are bad," he said, appearing to acknowledge his government's failure to distribute the massive oil wealth.
On Thursday the state Jornal de Angola daily for the first time in a week did not feature a frontpage picture of Jose Eduardo dos Santos . It told readers that voting was "a moral obligation".
Because there has not even been an attempt at an election for 16 years, it gave tips on voting procedures and listed polling stations in the capital.
State television also showed instructional films on how to mark ballot papers and put them in the boxes.
On Thursday, there were fears that disorganisation could disrupt the poll after mass confusion among electoral officers in Luanda trying to find out where they had been stationed.
"Most people are not on the list. There is a risk most of the election tables will not be able to function tomorrow," said Francisco Tambo, one of the electoral officers assigned to serve in the estimated 12,000 polling stations nationwide.
The 1992 vote was rejected by UNITA when the results gave the MLPA a slight majority and plunged the country back into civil war.
While UNITA has also complained of intimidation and violence, Samakuva dismissed the possibility of post-election violence.
"We fought so much for these elections - 16 years without a vote is too long so whatever the outcome, Angola has already made a real step forward. The simple fact that the election was organised is a victory."
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) group said Friday's election would not be fair because the ruling party has received massive state funding and media coverage.
However the EU observer mission said the campaign has been largely calm but conceded that equitable media coverage was a "real problem".
"We can see clearly that they are giving more space to the ruling party," EU mission chief Luisa Morgantini told AFP.
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