Situation Report: Angolan legislative elections: Analysing the MPLA's triumph, Paula Roque

Angola’s legislative elections on 5 September 2008 saw the ruling MPLA win a landslide victory with 82% of the vote, reducing the opposition to a residual political force. UNITA managed to get a mere 10.5% of the vote, the PRS 3%, and FNLA only 1%. President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s party is now able to change the constitution and govern without having significantly to engage in political debate with the opposition or civil society. The composition of the legislative branch will, therefore, experience a radical transformation compared with the situation after 1992, when the MPLA obtained 125 seats, UNITA 70, the PRS 6, FNLA 5 and a number of smaller parties secured one parliamentary seat each. The result of the latest elections will give the opposition an estimated total of only 40 seats out of the 223 available.